I am the Master of Fear
Summary: It is Halloween Night in Gotham City, and citizens are terrified out of their wits---but not by the Scarecrow. How will the Master of Fear take this? Nightmare Before Christmas Crossover.
Genre: Crossover
Rated: PG/K+ for violence, intensity, three wicked children, their antics, and two masters of fear.
Disclaimer: Batman, the Scarecrow, and other related characters are owned by Warner Brothers and DC Comics. Batman created by Bob Kane. Tim Burton's the Nightmare Before Christmas belongs to...is it not obvious?
I Own: Mrs. Ericson, Anthony, Trish, Mr. Kentworth and the Rejectz---especially Nyghtmare. I would kill for her.
Background: I suppose I am unintentionally joining the craze as far as recent Scarecrow fanfiction. I have been meaning to write another fanfic for a while now, but neither ideas nor the time allowed me to do so. This idea suddenly popped into my mind...and seeing I had the time to write, I could not turn it down. One note on the scheme: it might seem awkward and possibly a little out of character at first, but there is a method to my madness.
Chapter 1: Halloween Town
There was not even a week left until Halloween. Jack Skellington, the Pumpkin King of Halloween Town, was moving to make the finishing touches on this year's plans. They were perfect in every aspect so far: no detail had been overlooked and no creature had been left out. Mortals were going to cower in terror when the plans were unleashed.
"Jack?"
Jack looked away from his plans to find his eyes (well...eye sockets) meeting the big, beautiful eyes of Sally the Rag Doll, his very own bride-to-be and the love of his life. Her skin was pale blue, with her limbs stitched together, and dark red hair tumbling down just past her waist. Her mouth was askew and she wore a dress made of patches of all shapes, sizes, and colors. Jack looked at her and smiled softly.
"What is it, Sally?"
She sighed.
"Those three."
Jack groaned. She was referring to the town's very own trick-or-treaters, Lock, Shock, and Barrel.
At first glance, one might deem them only as little children, but the citizens of Halloween Town knew better. Lock, Shock, and Barrel were never to be underestimated. They were wicked. They were clever. They caused more trouble in a week than any other trickster could cause in a year. Many were wise to avoid them if given the chance.
The threesome used to be feared---and for good reason. They worked for the notorious Oogie Boogie, who, true to his name, was the town's boogieman. If the threesome was angered or offended, so was Oogie, and the poor fool was usually never seen again. Since Oogie's demise last Christmas Eve, however, Lock, Shock, and Barrel were not as feared or respected. Yes, they seemed to have a small change of heart that Christmas Eve. They were the ones, after all, who let the town know that Jack was still alive when most citizens were convinced he had been blasted out of the sky. They were some of the first to appreciate the first snowfall Halloween Town had ever known---especially with the credit of Halloween Town's first snowball, thrown right into the face of Jack Skellington, the Pumpkin King without penalty for it (he actually laughed after it hit). Unfortunately, that change only lasted so long.
It was only a matter of time before Lock, Shock, and Barrel reverted back to their twisted, evil little selves. They were depressed at first, as Oogie was the only parental figure that they had ever known...but then they realized the freedom in having no guardian. Unfortunately, because of their temporary change of heart, they were expected to behave. That did not go well with the little threesome. Instead, they retaliated, determined to get their old ego back.
At first they were deemed as "annoying." Without Oogie to back them up, the citizens saw little reason to fear them anymore. Their pranks were harmless "kid stuff," such as swapping bat bile for eye of newt, unexpected trip ropes, buckets filled with unknown substances over doors, things that disappeared and reappeared in the most unexpected places. In desperation, Lock, Shock, and Barrel got worse.
The ingredient swapping became more dangerous to the unexpecting witch as the trio became more educated in what certain ingredients did to certain potions. Innocent trip ropes and buckets over doors became well thought-out traps that left the victim suspended in a giant spider web or hanging for hours from one of the town's highest buildings. The disappearing objects and buckets over doors became vandalism and thievery. It all only progressively grew worse.
Lock, Shock, and Barrel were feared again...but not because of Oogie. They were feared because they figured out what they were truly capable of, that they could do things on their own...not because Oogie told them to. It seemed that now, only Jack could control them, using the same tool they used---fear.
Sally led Jack out of the Town Hall and down to Spiderbat Street, where the trick-or-treaters obviously struck. Jack looked around. Goo covered the streets and several citizens were stuck in place. Some of the decorations were either destroyed or stolen. Banners were torn or twisted and props were scattered around. It would have been hard to believe that three little kids could cause such a disaster---unless you knew Lock, Shock, and Barrel.
"Those miserable brats!" wailed one of the vampires.
"They need to be stopped," whined the Little Witch.
Several citizens struggled to free themselves from the sticky goo. Those who were not trapped tried to set things right again. Jack groaned. It was going to be one of those days...
Beyond the gates of Halloween Town, behind the borders of the graveyard, out in a lonely field and surrounded a deep ravine---broken only by a rickety old bridge---stood a tall, twisted tree. Upon this ravine-surrounded tree stood a badly put together tree house, perched in such a manner that any onlooker would believe the trees serving as its base would snap in half at any given moment, forcing the entire house into the ravine below. To the town, it was a bit of a landmark, a place isolated on purpose, a cage to house the demons inside. To Lock, Shock, and Barrel, it was home.
There were only two means of entering such a house. One was an elevator made out of an old birdcage. The other was a small drawbridge, for when the threesome needed their walking claw-footed bathtub. On this particular day, wicked laughter echoed throughout the walls of the tree house. Insects and bugs of all sorts who had foolishly made their home in this place cringed, then scattered quickly as three sets of footsteps wandered around.
"That was brilliant!" Shock exclaimed, straightening her lavender witch's hat over her black frizzled hair. "Those idiots never saw it coming!"
"It'll be a few hours before that goo lets up," said Lock. "Better hope the vampires brought their umbrellas!"
He cackled wickedly, mirroring the red devil attire he was wearing. Little Barrel, dressed as a skeleton, or more appropriately, a ghoul, smiled and licked his lollipop.
"We did well today," he said, his voice low and raspy, as though sick.
Shock tossed a pumpkin in her hand, then caught it again.
"I love the new decorations. They'll look lovely here."
She set it down, then smoothed out her lavender dress. Lock picked up a baseball bat. His red spaded tail twitched mischievously.
"Batter up!"
Shock threw the pumpkin decoration towards him. There was a crack of a bat and the shatter of glass as Lock hit it---straight through the window. Several bugs squealed in fright and scattered around, while the threesome laughed wickedly.
"Oh well," Lock said, without a care. "Just means we steal more glass tomorrow."
"And break some---" Shock helped.
"On the way," Barrel concluded.
They laughed again, being the troublesome brats they were. Shock picked up another decoration. This one, too, was hit, straight through the same window, shattering even more glass. Barrel reached up to grab the bat.
"My turn!"
Lock pulled it away.
"Let go!"
"I wanna try!"
"It's my bat! Leggo!"
The two boys began to play tug-of-war with the bat. Shock casually flopped back on the couch, watching her two younger brothers fighting over a long piece of wood. Lock, being the stronger of the two brothers, managed to yank the bat away from Barrel. He pushed him down, then began to beat him over the head with it.
"Ow!" whined Barrel. "Ow! Ow! Ow!"
He rolled to the side. Lock, in surprise, fell back, dropping the bat. Barrel grinned, pleased with himself. Shock jumped off the couch and picked up the bat.
"All right, idiots," she said, holding the bat in one hand and tapping it in the other. "We did well tonight. Let's not ruin the moment."
"But it's fun to fight!" Lock complained.
"I know," said Shock, "but Halloween's coming up. Instead of wasting our time, we should be making more of that goo and getting things we need to cause trouble on Halloween night. We have to make this Halloween better than last year! But first---"
She grinned wickedly.
"---We need to find the perfect place to strike in the Mortal Realm, somewhere where people are so rattled anyway that it'll be easy to prank 'em so badly."
Shock crawled halfway under the couch and pulled out a map of the cemetery.
"We all know each of the tombstones leads somewhere. The only thing now is to find a place to strike."
Lock and Barrel looked on in awe.
"Where'd you get that?" asked Lock.
"Jack," Shock said calmly. "I...borrowed it from his office in Town Hall. He won't miss it; it was buried under tons of papers..."
The three siblings smiled wickedly, before they sat down around the map, looking at the tombstones and reading the descriptions of each.
It was almost two hours later when Jack and several others finally managed to clean up the goo. The witches, who fortunately were not stuck, had been able to create a potion to counteract the goo…and just in time, as dawn would be here in under ten minutes. The vampires, as soon as they were freed, rushed to their homes...only to come running back, as the wicked siblings put garlic over the entrance to their house. Jack sighed and followed, thankful that the strings of garlic were just lazily strung over the door...most likely Barrel's doing, as he was the dumb one of the trio. Lock or Shock would have been clever enough to rub the garlic in the doorframe---a task that would require more than ten minutes to scrub out.
The vampires thanked him and went inside to settle down for the evening. Jack then went back to Spiderbat Street, where Sally and those who were not fatally effected by sunlight were mopping up the goo and potion mixture. Jack grabbed a mop and helped out.
"It seems I need to talk to those three," Jack said softly. "They'll be lucky if they can go out on Halloween."
"They're only children, Jack," Sally replied softly. "And they are only doing their job."
"I know, Sally, but this time they've gone too far."
Sally sighed softly.
"I know."
She continued to work. The witches pulled out their biggest cauldron for the workers to dump in buckets of the goo when mopped up or to wring out the mops themselves. Jack helped them finish up, before he headed out of the gates, down the long path and towards the tree house.
"How about this one?" asked Barrel, pointing to an interesting looking tomb on the map.
"Are you insane!" asked Shock. "That's Jack's private tomb!"
Lock shuddered slightly. He looked and quickly pointed to a tombstone that none of the three had noticed in the past few hours they spent looking over the map.
"This one, however---"
He cut off as all three of them perked up. A tall shadow loomed over them. The figure was crouched, as the tree house obviously was not big enough for him.
"'This one's what?"
The trio gulped. It was none other than Jack Skellington, the Pumpkin King of Halloween Town himself.
"J-J-Jack!" squealed Shock.
"H-how'd you get in?" Lock asked, shocked.
Barrel did not say anything, but merely gulped.
"You left the back door open," said Jack, pointing to the broken window, which was conveniently located in a place behind the threesome's backs.
If they were not already pale to begin with, Lock, Shock, and Barrel would have gone paler than three child-size corpses.
"I am not pleased with the ruckus you three caused today," Jack continued. "What is the rule about pranks in Halloween Town?"
"All of our pranks must be safe and cause no injury---" started Lock.
"With no destruction or theft of property---" continued Shock.
"A-and completed before midnight," finished Barrel.
"That's right," said Jack. "As of right now, most of the town is for banning you from going out this year. However, I am of the opinion of one last chance. I mean it. If you blow it before Halloween, consider yourselves stuck in Halloween Town, under the Mayor's watch," ---Jack paused, suddenly remembering the Mayor was Lock, Shock, and Barrel's favorite target--- "with no pranks and no trouble, unless you want to increase your punishment---scrubbing every inch of Town Hall---with toothbrushes."
Lock, Shock, and Barrel gulped.
"Am I clear?" asked Jack, sternly, but calmly.
"Yes, Jack," the triad replied simultaneously, hanging their heads.
Jack gave a small smile.
"Between you and me---the goo was brilliant. But remember the rule, especially the part about midnight."
Without another word, Jack turned and went into their weaponry. From there, he used the drawbridge to leave, as getting through the window was tricky enough once without having to do it twice. Shock waited until he was gone.
"Stupid Jack," she muttered. She was pretty relieved, however, that Jack did not see the map---either that or he did not care that they had it.
"I know," said Lock, sitting down. He located the one tomb on the map. "Now this one looks interesting."
He pointed to it. Shock and Barrel looked at it too, before Shock read the two-line description aloud.
"A city so dangerous that even by day, people are wary. It's a place where lunatics run the streets."
She grinned.
"I think---"
"This is exactly---," Barrel continued.
"---What we're looking for," Lock finished, with a wicked grin.
"If crazy people make the rules, I'll bet people will be so unnerved that we can prank and be done long before midnight!" Shock cried out.
Lock smiled, then looked at the name. He grinned as he read it out loud.
"Gotham City..."
(A/N: I give you my apologies that this first chapter is all Nightmare Before Christmas, believe it or not, I originally intended on switching to Gotham City at least twice, but things did not work out that way. However, a lot of the content was necessary for future chapters. There will be more Gotham than Halloween Town as the story progresses, I promise. Actually---this is probably the only chapter with the exception of possibly Chapter 3 that is dominated by Halloween Town. The rest will be more realted to Gotham.)