Disclaimer: I don't own Batman or any DC characters.
Bruce POV
Crane had kidnapped Dick, the Arkham escapee had followed all of his usual steps; we both knew his fear toxin was still defective. Scarecrow had been an enemy of mine for years now, the ex-professor was obsessed with knowing my deepest fears and assumed taking my fiancé away from me would hit the mark. As much as I loved Richard, I wasn't afraid of losing him, not because I didn't care but because I knew how capable he was. Or so I thought, how could Crane slip under his radar? Fear was an emotional trait meant for Bruce Wayne, not Batman; the last thing I needed to do was let my feelings cloud my judgment. Despite being invisible in the eerie streets of Gotham the batmobile would draw too much attention, the only way I would be able to catch Scarecrow by surprise was on the batcycle. I'm headed to the construction zone; the faint rumble of an engine caught my attention. Who else would be this far into the abandoned districts?
"Alfred, there is a vehicle a quarter-mile behind me, who is the driver?" I asked curiously.
"That would be Huntress Sir,"
"And why is she following me?" I growled in frustration, "I told her this was a solo mission."
"It seems your order hasn't deterred her, let Helena assist you Bruce," the butler's concern rang out clearly. "Crane has never been the simplest foe." Broken and rotting buildings wailed with icy wind, the roads here were uneven and cracked; I don't have time to slow down.
"Helena," I tried to stay calm,
"Batman, I was wondering when you'd realize I was behind you," there was an ounce of amusement through the radio device.
"Nothing about this situation is funny Huntress," I snarled,
"I didn't mean," she sighed, "I know Jonathan took Richard."
"Then you know I don't want your help, I have enough to worry about without you there." Static crackled between us,
"We're family Bruce," Helena's worry crashed over me, the fact this was getting to her was unsettling. Usually her emotions were as tucked away as mine, though she was always very hotheaded,
"Which is another reason to work alone," I gritted. Overhead the night sky was a grotesque shade of green, the hazy moonlight made inky shadows dance through the trees.
"I care about him just as much as you do," Huntress said firmly, "And I don't want to regret letting you meet up with Scarecrow alone." Every inch of the district felt like something plucked out of a child's nightmare: dark, cold and desolate.
My mind honed in on the silent road and ignored the screaming wind, finally I exhaled,
"Fine. Just stay hidden," I ordered, "I'll radio you."
"Alright Batman,"
"She has dropped back," Alfred reassured me quietly, "You should be approaching the rendezvous point." Unlike Penguin or Two-Face, Scarecrow preferred working alone, with that in mind I knew there wouldn't be any thugs with guns lurking around. Parking the batcycle in the shadows of the somewhat dense woods I stopped, with one touch I activated my infrared vision. There were no heat signatures nearby; Huntress was a yellow pin-point far in the distance. I should have seen this coming, when I turned back a run-down building peeked between the trees. Frustration burned in my chest, a half-torn down hospital loomed in an overgrown courtyard.
Per usual Crane wasn't outside, a shadow in the night I swiftly made my way to the front doors and scanned it for hidden triggers or sensors. Crows cawed ominously from bony branches above me, their beady eyes hollow and dark. Once inside I realized there wasn't much to the ground floor, or the one above it for that matter; when I glanced down at the floor I noticed a small brass hoop. He's in the basement. His methods were hardly concealed; given the opportunity Scarecrow orchestrated each classic phobia, in a search for mine. No matter how lightly I treaded the floorboards would squeak, I quickly sent Huntress a message through her communicator, no traps outside, proceed. Cautiously lifting up the hatch I silently went down the stairs, somewhere in the darkness I could hear water dripping from a leaky pipe. This basement must run deep, I ran my hand across the slick linoleum walls.
If I strained my ears I could hear the pound of a furnace deep underground, I don't remember seeing any smoke. The farther down I went the hotter the air became, thick mold stained the moist walls; loud static suddenly spurred to life and rocked the entire building.
"The unknown, darkness, abandonment, death," Crane chanted lowly, "Losing a loved one, filth, solitude, decay. You may hide it well," he cackled, "But I will find your deepest fear." Without warning silence swept away his voice, the lack of sound rang like a high-pitch squeal; the wind howled angrily above ground and I blinked away the anxiety that started to gnaw at my thoughts.
"Alfred, do you have any information on this building?" I asked quietly, even though I was already sure Scarecrow knew my location.
"The Carfax Institution was built in 1957, in the wake of the Cold War. Most of the patients it housed were those whom were too violent to be held in an average penitentiary."
"You said patients, what exactly were they suffering from?"
"Carfax treated a variety of mental illnesses, Sir. They were most commonly diagnosed with severe stages of schizophrenia, bi-polar disease and an array of personality disorders." Sounds like Arkham. A chill suddenly shot up my spine; I turned to find empty dark blue in the heat sensors, except there are no cameras here. No guards.
"Why exactly was it abandoned?" I dreaded the answer.
"The doctor's used primeval methods to cure them, once civilians caught wind of this they ordered the establishment to be torn down."
"So they tortured them, I shouldn't be surprised," I muttered as I continued down the long, narrow hallway. "What about the patients? What happened to them?" Alfred hummed in confusion,
"There are no documents that hint towards their releases," the butler paused, "Perhaps; they were taken to another facility and simply forgotten?"
Unease started to fester in my gut when I reached the end of the tiled hallway, instead of a door solid blackness stood a few feet away.
"Your little bird has a wonderful scream," Crane's dark laughter echoed through the long halls,
"Don't listen to him," Richard croaked, "Don't come to get me," he begged, "Please." Breathe, you have to breathe. Faint whimpers and sobs crawled from the blackness, the basement pulsed with the cries of pain,
"Can't you hear him?" Scarecrow mused. Body on fire with worry and frustration I inched closer to the awaiting shadows, blood-curdling screams erupted from the room in front of me.
"Richard!" once I stepped forward I stumbled over the crater-shaped floor, nothing but emptiness surrounded me in the hazy green of the night vision. If anything my fiancé's sounds of agony only grew louder and more terrified, "Where are you?!"
Before I could turn back metal screeched as it slammed the opening behind me shut, dim lights flickered above me, and casted shadows over broken and forgotten furniture. Smoke slowly started to slither into the tiled cell from vents near the high ceiling; I quickly grabbed the rebreather from my boot and inhaled. After a few seconds I realized the small amount of oxygen wouldn't last long, Richard's cries swarmed around me mockingly. When my eyes traveled up the walls I noticed small speakers,
"Such a shame you couldn't save him, Batman." Twisted laughter and shrieks of agony melted together as the fear toxin swirled around my head, my lungs burned with old air. Out of options I inhaled, only to breathe in regular knockout gas, "Mm, I won't let you go so easily. I want to watch you deteriorate into nothing but a sniveling child."
Jeweled red eyes glowed through the darkness, Crane's bright grin was wide from where he stood outside the thick metal door. His fingertips rapped against the bars impatiently before everything went black.
There was a small pinch at my neck, when I swatted Crane away it was already too late; a strange sensation buzzed under my skin as I rolled over onto my back. When I opened my eyes the room started to spin, the same lights flickered above a bony Scarecrow as he hovered over me. Senses sluggish I tried to get up, but I froze when he smiled; the coarse material of his mask looked like it melted into his skin, each crease mimicked a wrinkle. His blue eyes blazed with amusement and curiosity,
"Oh forgive me, I assumed you wanted to see my mask. It seems to have an odd effect on you," vomit burned the back of my throat as spiders and centipedes crept out of his grinning mouth. The dying light threw monstrous shapes against the walls, they danced and roared around the fiery furnace. The smell of burnt flesh drowned out my thoughts and sent me retching against the linoleum floors.
Without warning he tugged off my cowl and threw it across the room, "How nice to meet you," his body went still, "Mr. Wayne." In a blink Crane had evaporated and all that was left was the red-hot furnace, a conveyor belt fed into its angry mouth. A boy donned in a tuxedo slowly climbed on the platform, and tears streamed down his face as he clutched a single rose. Blood trickled down his hands as he lay down on the belt,
"What are you doing?" my words ran together, "Get off of there!" The dark-haired boy ignored me, seconds later his body erupted into flames, "No," I cried and tried to get up on my knees. Crane's voice rang from all around me, and the fire crackled with new fuel as my heart hammered in my chest.
"That day was never supposed to happen," he sounded serene; "It wasn't the loss that crippled you, however."
Hands balled into fists I tried to reach down to grab my batarangs,
"Huntress," I slurred in hope that the radio was still functional. White-hot pain branched out in my chest, acidic fingers ran through my mind,
"Interesting," Crane murmured analytically, "Even if you're in pain, you don't scream out." Skin clammy and vision blurry I tried to claw my way towards the thick metal door, there has to be a way out.
"Bruce," Richard sobbed, my heart was torn out of my chest when I turned; dark hand-prints wrapped around his neck and purplish bruises littered his body, making him almost unrecognizable.
"No," I shouted, "Crane, please!" Colors from the fire lit up his navy blue eyes as he was dragged closer to the flames.
"Please," he whimpered before cold blue flames engulfed his body,
"Stop," the weight of the world crashed down on me. "Just, end this already."
"I imagined you would be more lively after all this," he paused, "How disappointing. Oh, and don't fret Bruce, I will be the end of you." Scarecrow stepped an inch out of the blackness and suddenly the furnace raged with heat, his beady red eyes glowed in the flames as he scowled. "You don't understand just yet, do you? Loss is only a veil for your true fear," his yellowing teeth glinted as he grimaced, "I can't believe it took me years to grasp."
"What are you talking about?" I wheezed, the fire climbed dangerously high and licked against the smooth ceiling.
"The doctors that once walked these halls, and saved their patients," Crane paused and a smirk twitched on his mouth. "What do you assume they did with them when this place was shut down?" Unable to breathe now he went on, "It isn't that entirely complex, Bruce." Wails and shrieks filled the furnace room, bloody hand-prints climbed and scraped up the walls; the hungry fire threw the room into a deep red glow.
"To any scientist, mistakes are to be documented and managed. Ironically enough, the patients here were treated as monsters, nothing but Wrath and sin personified. Society dumped them here, and they were obligated to fix them." I could only watch the flames flicker and twist as pain tore my body apart, Crane continued to speak calmly, but something about his mask still got under my skin. "What do you call an unsolved problem?" An issue? My mind slowly blinked, "Something that was your duty to deal with?" Scarecrow slowly melted into the darkness and the fire died down, until the entire furnace vanished with him.
"The best hiding place is in plain sight," Jonathan's voice echoed from a distance. "You endure this fear everyday now, it's so commonplace in your thoughts that you overlook it." Anxiety piled up inside me and I hardly pushed myself on hands and knees, pitch blackness surrounded me. "The memories haunt your nightmares," Scarecrow murmured. "How horribly things got out of hand each and every time you met. His very existence proved to be your greatest fear, because the outcome was always fated to be the same."Crane's voice faded away and was replaced with a breathy chuckle, that isn't Jonathan- who? Sweat dripped down my face as I clutched at the darkness,
"Who's there?" I croaked blindly. Soon the sound grew louder and more manic, footsteps quietly crept towards me.
Wind screamed far away as a cool hand gripped my chin, Crane's voice whispered into my ear,
"Let me breathe life into your darkest fear, failure." The lights spurred to life and my head spun with the sudden brightness, my heart plummeted into my stomach once I caught sight of wild green hair.
"Why such the long face, Honeycakes?" he pouted as I tried to tug my jaw out of his hand. "And here I was thinking you'd missed me," the Clown Prince sneered. "To hell with what Birdbrain thinks," he snickered and licked his unusually red lips. "I reckon I'm the best failure you ever did see."
"Joker," I wheezed as my body itched with the need to fight, or to at least add space between us; a smile of pure glee lit up his weathered face.
"You remember," he beamed,
"You died in Arkham months ago," I breathed and his hand drifted down to my throat before he gripped tight.
"Now, now honey," he frowned disappointingly,"Let's not talk about all that negative, alright?" I quickly nodded and he took a second to release me, "Sort of want to bask in this whole, I'm living thing, y'know?" I couldn't do more than stare up at him, Joker's skin was still a pasty white, but there was something different about his eyes. "Might not want to look at me that way, Batsy," he smirked pointedly and made my skin crawl, "Me and you have a little, catching up to do."
"Get your hands off of me," I growled,
"That's it, get me in the mood," he laughed loudly and his grip on my shoulders tightened. "Already watched your pretty boy get crispy," his wicked grin made my blood run cold. Some feeling came back into my hands, they shot up and curled around his wrists; minutes passed and all I was capable of doing was glaring up at him and gritting my teeth. The fear toxin is too strong.
From my research Crane's concoction was only supposed to scare people to death, not paralyze them. "Looks like we have some company," Joker jumped away from me and practically shook in anticipation, the electricity abruptly went out. Without his support I crumbled back to the dirty ground, the metal door crashed into the wall and billowing blue smoke filled the room.
"You aren't supposed to be here," Scarecrow screeched before he grunted, a nightmarish shape emerged from the clouds and roared,
"Batman." Hardly able to stand I scooted back into the wall, and sharp beams of light sliced into my eyes. Joker suddenly shattered into pieces once the monster stepped closer, its purple claws reached out towards me.
Cold sweat plastered my hair to my skin and my heart pounded harshly in my head, "Hey, it's me," its onyx colored fangs gleamed as its lips pulled back in a snarl. Anxiety and fear boiled in my lungs, searing pain branched out across my chest, head spinning I looked down. Almost black in the dark I watched as my bloody heart hammered in the Clown Prince's hand,
"Who will protect your precious Gotham now?" he mused as his lips brushed against my ear. The dub-lub of my flesh washed into Joker's crazed laughter, until they were a screaming, chaotic duet in my mind. Agonizing pain crashed over me and cut off the scream boiling in my lungs; the eerie smoke swallowed us whole.
A/N; My first attempt at anything horror/suspense. Might continue this story, what did you think?