Scarecrow waded through a bayou not far from New Orleans and beheaded his ninth half-kishin this evening. As Jonathan Crane, he had consumed ninety kishin eggs during his time at the Academy. The fact that he and Joker were so good at hunting them was likely the only reason Lord Death put up with Joker's pranks for as long as he did. They started out fairly harmless, but got progressively more violent as the years went by…Joker was smart to leave when he did. Crane was left without a partner, so Lord Death considered dismissing him from the Academy, but Crane promised to work extra hard and behave far better than Joker ever did. Fortunately, he was more secretive with his methods of terrorizing people, so they went largely unnoticed by the old fool.
Crane earned a doctorate degree in psychology and a master's degree in the history and study of madness. As a teacher, he was able to study his students' reactions to what they were being taught while proving himself invaluable to Lord Death. As the school's psychiatric counselor, he was able to learn the fears and insecurities of the students who confided in him and study the strength of each student's will as he forced them to face their fears. He kept them from telling anyone about the experiments by means of memory-altering drugs. But the game was finally over when Stein broke into his private lab and found him pouring pig blood on a hemophobic girl. He tried to convince Stein that he was just trying to help the girl get over her fear (in truth he wanted to see whether or not she would die of fright) but Stein beat him senseless, rescued the girl, and reported him. Lord Death's trust in Crane was broken and he was banned from Death City and warned never to return. Of course, that didn't stop him from returning six months ago with Joker to conduct the greatest experiment in mass hysteria the world had ever seen and it certainly wouldn't stop him from returning again to punish Stein for killing Joker and cutting their experiment short.
"So, that's ninety nine…about damned time." his new partner snarled as he hopped down from a nearby tree.
The man's name was Giriko; he was a Demon Weapon like Scarecrow and one of the Academy's most wanted enemies. Scarecrow met Giriko at a cantina in Mexico not long after he escaped from Death City. Once they got acquainted and realized they had a common enemy, they formed their uneasy partnership. No one could ever replace Joker, but Giriko's hatred of Lord Death and his followers made him a valuable and fairly likeable ally, despite his impetuousness. Now they were on their way to an old chateau in the middle of the bayou where a pair of witches was taking refuge.
"Thank you for your patience, Giriko." said Scarecrow calmly. "The chateau is not much further, you will soon get the challenge you have been craving."
"Hell yeah." said Giriko. "I'm sick of fighting normal humans an' miserable half-kishins."
Once they reached the chateau, the each took a different way in; Scarecrow scaled a wall and began crawling along the roof while Giriko busted through a window. He stormed through the living room, kitchen, and dining hall, kicking down doors and smashing furniture. He was about to head down to the cellar when he spotted a dark shape rushing into an ivy-covered greenhouse. He marched out through the kitchen and sliced down the greenhouse door. He barely got through the doorway when a huge vine of ivy reached in through a window, wrapped itself around Giriko's throat, and lifted him off the ground. A middle-aged woman with a lean porcelain face and oily black hair tied back in a bun stepped out from behind a column. She wore an olive-green Victorian dress with a slit going up the middle revealing her slim legs.
"Die, you human trash." she hissed in a sultry, yet venomous voice.
Giriko activated his saw-leg and shredded the vine. Then he spun on one heel and shredded more that the witch sent toward him. He then flipped over the witch and dug his saw-leg into her spine. She let out a bloody gargle and fell forward, dead. When her soul emerged, he grabbed it and gulped it down. He couldn't have cared less about becoming a Death Scythe, but a little extra power couldn't have hurt and a witch's soul was a rare treat.
Scarecrow meanwhile had sliced his way through the master bedroom window, slipped inside and crept up to the attic. He spotted an old crone with bushy bone-white and auburn hair dressed in a tattered black gown cowering in a corner behind four sickle-wielding corpses; she was obviously a necromancer.
"Death Academy trash!" she rasped, half fearful, half spiteful.
He sliced the arms and heads off her four undead bodyguards as they crept toward him and advanced slowly on the old witch, savoring her terror and helplessness.
"Please…" she wheezed, falling to her knees. "have mercy, kind sir."
"Kind sir?" Scarecrow sneered from behind the tattered remains of his mask. "Was I not Death Academy trash moments ago?"
"No! I'm sorry!" the witch gasped. "My daughter and I…we never asked to be born witches! We only kill to survive…to keep our existence a secret…you can understand that, can't you?!"
The fear in her voice and eyes was genuine; Scarecrow could practically taste her desperation, but he could tell that she wasn't lying.
"I appreciate your predicament…" he said plunging his blade-hand into her heart. "I truly sympathize."
The old witch fell limp as he pulled his blade out of her and fell to the floor with a satisfying thud. After a moment or two, a pale purple orb emerged from her lifeless shell…so this was the soul of a witch.
Giriko strolled back into the dining hall, cracked open a bottle of bourbon, and started gulping it down. He then went into the living room and saw Scarecrow descending the steps; he had a faint purple glow around him which slowly faded. When he spoke, his once smooth, boyish voice was now a deep, morbid rasp.
"It is done, my friend."
Giriko grinned; this new Scarecrow was a definite improvement. "Are we finally ready, then?" he asked eagerly "Ready to tear those old pals of yours some new ones?"
"Not yet." Scarecrow rasped. "I need a few more allies before I dare to set foot in Death City again."
"Well, when I was with Arachne, she told me about one guy who'd be good to have on our team."
"Alright, Giriko." said Scarecrow, raising his voice to a slightly more pleasant tone. "I'm listening."