Author's Note: Currently, it is January 24, 2013 when I write this note, and while it was six days between the posting of chapters 19 and 20, I believe that this chapter, one of the last chapters that shall be posted in this story, will be done in at least a week from when I start writing. I am merely telling you, my readers, this simply because I feel as if I need to tell you.

As we can all see, my writing has grown rather well since I first started writing this and I must say that, once I post the last chapter of Apprentice I will be going back and editing ALL the chapters to make everything flow better between chapters and ideas to make it a much more enjoyable read for you.

As it is, this is officially THE longest story I have ever written and of that fact I am proud of. It is rather easy for me to get bored with certain story ideas. I'm sure some of you have noticed that certain chapters seem to just drag on or be just fillers while other are interesting and entertaining.

Either way, here is Chapter Twenty-one of Apprentice.

Author's Note #2: As I'm sure most of you have realized, it has been over a year since I have posted a chapter. The reason for this is simple and two-fold:

1. Real life

2. Difficulty figuring out how to write Harley

Now you may believe that, because I have used Harley in various bits of dialogue in earlier chapters, that the second reason is a bit of a lie, but in all honesty, it is not. Having someone talk for a very brief moment is rather easy to do. Making that same person talk and act for a whole section, on the other hand, is a bit difficult, especially when you do not understand that person, cannot get into their head, nor understand their reason(s) for doing what they do.

Hence the reason for the yearlong gap between the posting of the previous chapter and this one. It is current September 10, 2014 when I am writing this note, and yes, I do believe that I have figured out how best to portray Harley Quinn now.

All thanks to a bit of research into the minds of female serial killers, how they are created, and why they kill.

To add to that little fact, I believe I might not have as much action on Harley's part for this chapter now that I have thought about it. If that's the case, then that means that you, my dear readers probably have another one or two more chapters left to read before awaiting the prequel or for the revamped/edited version of this.

With that said, I now finally present to you Chapter Twenty-one of Apprentice.

Apprentice

Disclaimer: This is just for fun and to improve my writing skills. HELPFUL CRITICISM is appreciated, welcomed, and responded to. FLAMES will be ignored.

If you have questions either post them in a review or a PM, and I shall post my answer/response in the next chapter or e-mail you back.

Chapter Twenty-one

"Bold" = Scarecrow talking inside of Crane's mind

Timeline of Events:

Joker's breakout: 2 month and 4 days.

Jonathan's breakout: 1 month and 4 days

Time Alondra has been in Joker's 'care': 1 month and 1 week

The ride to Joker's current hideout – a nondescript, rundown apartment building – was…interesting to say the least. Jonathan was ready to actually attack Harley with how much she was talking. All he needed was directions, but Harley insisted on talking about what she intended to do to Joker the moment she saw him.

He could live the rest of his life without having heard any of that.

In fact, he was pretty sure that he would have a pissed off woman on his hands if he even hinted to her what he was going to do to Joker the moment he got his hands on the clown, but at the current moment, he couldn't quite bring himself to care for any of that.

It had taken him a little over twenty-four hours to do the following:

1. Break Harley out of Arkham.

2. Get her in the car he had managed to hotwire and no one had yet to report missing; and

3. Convince her to give him coherent directions while he drove around Gotham trying to find the damn apartment building that Joker was currently holed up in.

During all of this, Scarecrow was commentating the whole of the situation, and needless to say, Jonathan was more than ready to start using his new and improved Fear Toxin on the next person that he didn't have a use for.

Hopefully, that would be Joker. If not him, then he just might use his ungloved hand to give Harley a concussion, tie her up, and leave her in the car for either Batman or the GCPD to find.

"Ooh, turn 'ere!" Jonathan swore softly under his breath, making Scarecrow laugh at the sheer impossibility of his chosen phrase – "Johnny-boy, I'm pretty sure that would make a hooker blush!" – as he had to break and then turned the wheel sharply in order to be able to make the turn without making the front of the car become intimately acquainted with the corner of a building.

Jonathan was fairly certain that he would be needing the car once he got Child back and had dealt with Joker…hopefully having accomplished both objectives before someone he'd rather not deal with showed up.

A glance in the rearview mirror showed him that Scarecrow was lazily lounging in the backseat, acting very much like he owned the car, and if one ignored the very much increasingly grotesque form he was becoming, one could have mistaken him for the form of a rather lazy and relaxed Bruce Wayne.

Scarecrow grinned at him, cracked, bleeding lips pulling back to reveal blackened gums with jagged teeth that were stained a dark red with small chunks of bright pink things slowly dripping out. Jonathan really didn't want to ponder on what those things were, but his intellectual mind readily supplied with him the answer anyway.

"Johnny, even you have to admit that you won't know what you're walking in on." That was true, wasn't it? Jonathan had done the math. It had been slightly over a month since Joker had taken Child, and he knew his Child. She was a stubborn one, had always been after he had taken her under his wing, and after she had become sure of herself. All teeth and stubbornness, ready to fight for what she had carved out and claimed as hers. Jonathan was very much aware that particular trait had now been curbed with a sense of self-preservation now, with caution and intelligence that would have been frightening if he hadn't already been aware of the weakness that Child possessed.

Joker, however, complicated things. As always.

Joker wasn't one to take 'no' for an answer if he well and truly wanted something. If he couldn't charm someone into doing what he wished – like he had done with Harley when she had first been a newly minted, unjaded doctor at Arkham – then Joker would very much use force.

And it would have been force that Joker would have used in order to get Child to cooperate.

In the backseat, Scarecrow nodded. Pleased to know that Jonathan was following along with what he was saying. "It might be…easier to overdose her." Jonathan's hands tightened on the wheel as he had to pull to a stop in front of a red light. Just because he had stolen the car, had broken himself and Harley out of Arkham didn't mean that he would have to draw even more attention to himself.

Shaking his head, Scarecrow tsked at Jonathan, as if he was little more than a misbehaving child. "You like the little wolfy. I'll admit she had fangs, but that was what, a month ago?" Scarecrow rank a thick, forked, glossy black tongue over jagged teeth, mixing the dripping dark red with inky black fluid that foamed out.

To be honest, it actually made Jonathan's stomach turn, and he had seen a great deal of disgusting things in his lifetime.

Tossing his head back, Scarecrow laughed, the sound raking against Jonathan's eardrums and making him very much want to cover his ears to try and block it out. "Oh Johnny-boy! You're so amusing!" As if to test how strong Jonathan's stomach was, Scarecrow's grin widened, more blackish red liquid and foam dripping out, only to disappear into a haze of steam that smelled distinctly of sulfur.

"But let's get back on topic, shall we?" As if there was a choice, what with Jonathan being stuck in a car with an overly chatty Harley that was still detailing what she would do with Joker, or something that she had done in Arkham that she would be giving Joker. "Your Child might be beyond saving. After all, Joker has that effect on certain people. When you find her, just how damaged do you think she'll be? Do you think you'll be doing her a favor if you allowed her to live?"

Yes, Jonathan had thought about those things in the back of his mind over the entire course of this little endeavor of his. Focusing his eyes back on the road, Jonathan did his best to focus on the new series of directions Harley was giving.

Scarecrow leaned forward in his seat, leaning in close to Jonathan's ear. "The woman you knew might no longer be the woman that you find, Jonathan. Are you prepared to make that choice? Are you ready to put her out of her misery if you find her too far gone for even your skills? To put her back together the best you can with your rusted skills as a nut doctor?" Scarecrow hissed out, his hot breath puffing against Jonathan's ear, and the stench of it reached his nostrils, making Jonathan want to gag.

"Are you prepared, Jonathan? Prepared to do what you had spared her from when you first tried to take her apart?"

Was he? For once, Jonathan didn't have an answer, and his musing was interrupted by a happy, ear-splitting squeal from Harley as she bounced in the seat. "Oh Professa! We're here! We're home!"

Time had run out, but for who, Jonathan couldn't quite say. He both heard and saw Scarecrow settled back into the backseat. "Show time, Johnny-boy."