Disclaimer: I don't own Batman or Tim Drake's anger.

"Vera, get the fuck up." Tim barked. "We need to talk."

Vera slowly opened her eyes, rubbing them as she sat up in her bed. At the end of it was Tim, and she could tell he was not in a very good mood.

"Sure, what's up?" Vera said, yawning, her voice still deep with sleep.

"What's up?" Tim asked, angry. "What's up? Is that all you have to say to me?"

"I'm sorry, did I miss something?"

"You disappeared for weeks on end, suddenly, with no explanation!" Tim barked. "What the hell is wrong with you?!"

"Well if an explanation is what you want, then let me explain right now." Vera said, confused. She didn't understand why Tim was so mad.

Well, he did have a point. She did run off. But she was back and tat was what mattered right? Why was he still mad?

"Bruce already told us everything last night. Why didn't you tell us that monster was your father? We could have protected you."

"I'm sorry, I thought I could handle it." Vera said, looking down at her hands. So that was why he was mad.

"I know what you did." Tim said after a pause.

"What are you talking about?" Vera asked.

"You fucking monster. You're no better than you're father." he said, disgust evident in his tone. He would never forgive her for what she did. She was a disgrace. It was in her genes.

"What did I do?" Vera asked again, panicking at the thought. She didn't know what she could have done to have made Tim say that to her.

She could feel the tear in her heart at the words. If anyone said that to her, it would hurt. But this was coming from her own brother and that made it a hundred times worse.

"You killed Carmine Falcone."

Vera whipped her head up to look at him. "What did you say?"

"You killed Carmine Falcone." Tim repeated.

"How did you know about that?" she asked.

"I watched you." he said. "It was terrible, you were like an animal. You were like him."

"I am nothing like him!" Vera yelled.

"Shut up! They'll hear." Tim covered her mouth. "You were exactly like him, drunk with power. Using fear to control your victims, to consume them."

Vera gasped in horror. He was right. She was like him. She used the same methods he did, just without fear toxin. It ran in her blood. She was a monster.

"You know I'm right."

"But I don't want you to be." Vera sobbed. "I don't want to be like him. He's horrible. I never want to be anything close to that."

"Well, there's nothing you can do to reverse it." Tim told her. "I've seen things like this happen before. You're mind will be molded by it. You'll go insane and then you'll end up just like him."

"But I could stop it. I won't become like him." Vera said.

"You can't prevent it, it's inevitable."

"I will NOT be like my father, I promise you that." Vera said, desperately trying to console herself. It was only a matter of time before she broke down completely. The toxin's effects hadn't fully worn off yet.

"It's already happening. You were destined to be like him, destined to kill like he did. You're already a monster. A sick, sick monster." Tim said, looking at her with hate.

"Is there any way...?" Vera asked, looking at him hopefully.

"Even if there is, I'm not helping you. The damage is done. I will never forgive you." Tim said. And with that he left the room, leaving Vera on the bed to cry all by herself.

She turned her television on to try to distract herself from anything that was currently going on in her life. It was a mess, pure hell and she just wanted a distraction, even for just a half hour.

The television turned on with a flash and the news came on. Vera usually never watched the news but she had probably missed a lot of what had happened in Gotham lately. Maybe it was time for her to catch up.

"Edward Nygma AKA, the Riddler, has escaped from Smith's Grove Asylum. The only thing left in his cell was a bobby pin which he presumably used to pick the lock and escape from the asylum." the newscaster said, dully.

Vera bolted up straight after hearing that. She smiled. So he had gotten out. Now she just needed to know if he had gotten out safely.

"His whereabouts are unknown, but we are hoping that a certain Caped Crusader will find him and put him back where he belongs."

Well that answers my question, Vera said, smiling wider. She was glad to hear that he was free from that wretched place.

She had no doubt that Bruce would find him and recapture him again but it was better to have limited freedom than none at all. She hoped he would make good use of the short time he had out of custody.

"Dr. Crane had been found, unconscious and badly beaten in his office shortly after Nygma had escaped. Dr. Crane cannot recall what had happened in the past few hours. But he will be fine." the newscaster said, sounding even more bored than she did at the beginning. "Back to you, Robert and Gladys."

"Well, we wish Dr. Crane a speedy recovery." Robert said, a solemn look on his face.

How could these people be so oblivious? Vera thought.

They were talking about the same man who had gassed the city, brought Gotham to her knees with fear. This was the same man who wreaked havoc for his own personal gain and obsession with fear. Then a thought occurred to her.

They don't know. Vera concluded. They don't know it was him. They just know him as the Scarecrow. They know his mask, not him.

The people certainly remember being gassed, but they have no clue who was behind the whole operation. Bruce had said that the case was supposed to be low key, kept mostly from the eye of the public. But she didn't know that it meant nobody had known about it.

Washing her worry away, she decided to go back to sleep, just for a little while. It would be a little bit before anything happened. The main news was over, there was nothing going on around the house, everyone was sleeping. She took advantage of it.

After sleeping for a little while, Vera woke up to some sort of commotion. She looked around, not sure of where it came from. Then, she realized that it was the television.

"Gotham is being attacked! Gotham is under attack!" the news anchors were all running around screaming.

"The city is being filled with the toxin that appears to be the same as the toxin that flooded our streets a little while ago!" a news anchor yelled.

"The Scarecrow has returned to Gotham!"

A/N: Oh no... Trouble has started. Can Vera be rid of the infamous Scarecrow? Can she at least rid everyone else of him?

So once again, this story is coming to a close. I predict, 2-3 more chapters but I'm not sure. I will be working on a sequel in a little bit after a short break. I need to finish my other story and maybe work on some new stories.

I haven't decided whether or not I'm posting the sequel or the prequel first. I have an idea for the sequel but not the full storyline, I have most of the storyline figured out for the prequel. I was going to post the prequel first, but I think it might be more appropriate to post the sequel first.

I'll be writing as fast as I can to finish this story. I always have that fear that I'm going to abandon a story and it has happened in the past. I won't abandon this one but I'm kind of afraid that I might still. I won't though.

Kisses!

-Harley

Shoutouts:

the-daydreamer17