Disclaimer: I do not own Batman or Jonathan Crane, sadly.

When Vera awoke, she was on a couch somewhere but she wasn't sure where. It was leather which wasn't so bad. But it was lumpy and really uncomfortable.

She didn't want to open her eyes. She knew when she did, she would have to face Jonathan. And let's be honest, who would want to do that in that particular situation?

"I know you're awake, Vera." her dather said. "I don't know who you think you're trying to fool."

She opened her eyes and he was standing above her. She gave a little shriek. He was no more than three inches away from her nose. She hadn't expected him to be that close. He sounded so far away when he talked.

Jonathan chuckled and straightened himself up. He smoothed down his suit and the wrinkles disappeared. Vera watched him from the couch, not bothering to move.

How could someone as disgusting as him appear so dignified? Well, when people didn't know that he was the Scarecrow. If you asked anyone in Gotham, he was a monster. But anywhere else, he was an appreciated doctor. How had the truth not gotten out?

The worst thing was, Bruce didn't even know. Crane wasn't exactly an uncommon name and he never saw Jonathan's face at Smith's Grove. He had no idea the predicament she was in. And all she needed was his help. Bruce was her only hope at this point. Even she couldn't save herself now.

"Why do you bother?" Vera asked, venom dripping from her voice. Her eyes were trained on him. Both sets of intense blue orbs stared back at each other with th same animosity. It was father and daughter at it again.

"Bother with what?" he asked, defensive. His walls were up.

"Why are you still a psychologist? If fear is what you desire, then why not unleash the Scarecrow on everyone?"

He smiled a creepy smile. It was too calm. Heshould have lashed out, but he was calm. Too calm.

"You see, my daughter. It's all part of my plan."

She spat at him. "I'm not your daughter, Jonathan."

He stepped toward her and slapped her across the face. "Treat your father with some respect."

"I'm not your daughter. I never was. You're not family. You never will be."

"How dare you?" he said, gripping her hair. "All I've given you? It's more than I've ever got from my own father. You should be grateful."

"I understand now." she said, grinning. A sudden spout of courage erupted in her chest. She knew what she wanted to say. "You're all alone. You don't have anyone, not even your own daughter."

"I don't need anyone, Vera. I don't undertsand how you fail to see that."

"You never had anyone. And finally, you had a daughter, the one person who might actually love you." she continued.

He pulled her hair harder but stayed silent. She struck a nerve and she knew it. Vera just hoped that she could hit all the right ones before he'd had enough.

"You're just bitter that you threw away that chance. You're bitter because even I hate you. You manipulated me when I was younger, but not anymore."

He stayed silent and motionless, his eyes darting to hers and away again. She'd struck another nerve. She hoped this would work.

"You have too much pride to even show anyone affection. Even if you did love me, you could never give up your pride enough to show it. Maybe that's where I got it from."

"You think I'm mad because you don't love me?" he growled, pulling her off the couch and towards the door.

She held back a whimper. All she wanted was tp burst into tears and break down on the spot, But she needd to win this battle. If she played her cards right, maybe she could have a chance to survive this. Maybe she could win the war.

He dragged her towards the door, and pulled her to her feet as they reached it. She held her head to try to lessen the pain that was pounding in her skull. He could pull really hard when he wanted to.

She wanted to strike one last nerve with him before they left his office. She hoped that it may be able to unfreeze his ice cold heart. She'd tried it before but it had never worked. But when again, she'd never done it under these circumstances. Maybe it would at least get him to think a little bit about what he had done.

"It may not be in the way you think," Vera started, carefully choosing her words. "But I do love you... Dad..."

She looked at his expression. His face didn't change but she could see, something in his eyes did. She couldn't really place what it was but she knew she had never seen it before, on anyone's face, let alone Jonathan's.

She changed him, made him think about something he didn't wqant to thnk about. Oh, what she'd do to get inside his head at that moment.

He put his hand on the doorknob and his blue eyes returned to their default state, cold, uncaring, and intimidating. Vera guessed it ran in her family, She could get like that too sometimes.

He opened the door and shoved her outside. Once he stepped out, he closed the door and locked it tight. Then, he held an ironlike grip on the upper arm. Since she was so short and he was so tall, her arm was yanked upwards.

Unfortunately, no one was around to see how he was treating her. And he would probably get away with it even if somebody did see, all he had to say was that she had tried to attack him and he was trying to keep her contained. Anyone in this asylum would believe him. It was his word against hers.

"Let's go. You're staying in maximum security." Jonathan said, dragging her along. His grip loosened considerably and he didn't drag her as rough as he normally would have. Vera wondered if her words might have affected that.

Well, maximum security is where the criminally insane stay at Smith's Grove. Anyone who was particularly dangerous or had an extensive criminal record was to stay there. Jonathan had checked her in and deemed her as dangerous enough for the maximum security level.

They had cells there. It was like Arkham. Like a prison. She was a prisoner. And she definitely felt like one.

Her heart dropped. She would have to think of something to get her out of there. She didn't know how she'd have to get herself out but she knew she'd do it

Finally, Jonathan arrived at Vera's cell. The word disgusted her. She couldn't believe she was staying in one of these. It was disgusting.

Jonathan threw her in and locked it. He put the key in his pocket and walked away without even one glance back at her. He just locked his own daughter in a cell at an insane asylum. How could he just walk away like that? It wasn't right.

"Hey, kiddo." said a voice across the hall. "You wanna hear a riddle?"

Vera looked up from the ground. The bruises were already forming from when she landed on her knees being thrown into the cell.

"Nygma?" she asked.

"Edward Nygma aka The Riddler, at your service. What may I do for you, little lady? And if you don't me asking, how do you know me? Are you from Gotham?"

"Yeah, I am." she said, still in shock that another old friend was standing right in front of her.

"Dr. Crane harrassing you, too? I remember when he was alright. We used to be 'friends', you know." he chatted.

"Yeah, I know that." she said.

"How would you know that? No one did..." he asked, confused. It wasn't every day when the one and only Riddler was confused.

"I was there." she stated, waiting for it to pop in his head.

"How is that... Wait a minute... Let me get a good look at you, girlie..." he said, his voice faltering in confusuion.

She stepped to the front of her cell, small hands gripping the bars loosely. It hurt to realize that this was a reality. If chance wasn't on her side, then this is where she could die. Her father wouldn't keep her around too long after he gave her a dose of his fear toxin.

"Look at me." Edward stated, softly.

She lifted her blue eyes from the ground and looked into his green ones. He had beautiful eyes. Sometimes when she was little, after her dad hurt her, the most comforting in the world were his green eyes. They reminded her that not everyone had cold, blue, uncaring eyes, like her dad.

It was nice to feel that again.

Vera was comforted by that old feeling. She knew what it felt like to be looked at with pure hatred and it was nice to see his eyes again. She decided long ago that Edward Nygma had the nicest eyes in the world.

"Vera?" he asked in surprise as soon as she looked up at him.

"Yeah, it's me." she said. "Back from the dead."

He chuckled. "Nice to see you again, Vera."

"Nice to see you, too."

"You're father got a hold of you again?"

She nodded. "Unfortunately."

"How bad are the circumstances?" he asked, concerned.

She didn't answer, just looked down in the ground. She wondered how bad the circumtances really were.

"We need to get you out of here." Edward said, his eyes glowing with determination.

A/N: So sorry I haven't updated. I have no excuses as to why I haven't updated other than that I'm lazy and I'm working really hard on dancing. It takes a lot of practice and my body is really sore. :(

But here is the next chapter, I hope you like it. :) I wasn't sure where this chapter would go (but then again, I never do. Ideas come to me as I write xD) but I think the direction is pretty good. I have the ending all planned out, not that it's coming really soon or anything. But I'm also contemplating doing a sequel... I'm doing a prequel to this story after it's done about Jonathan before Vera was born, but after that I might do a sequel that continues where this story leaves off. SO let me know wha you thinnk about that.

Until next time! :) Enjoy

Harley

Shoutouts:

IShouldBeInAStraightJacket

PsychoSweetHeart

ZenyZootSuit

Georgia Ann