Disclaimer: I do not own the rights to any Batman character in this work. I only own Carmel and any other made up characters throughout the story.


Janet had not even bothered to wait for me to enter the Corn Palace, speeding off as soon as I had left the car. I approached the door in the alleyway, unsure of how to get in. I had assumed it would be locked, but Janet hadn't given me a key. Am I just supposed to walk in? I reached for the doorknob and to my surprise, found the door unlocked.

Walking in, I couldn't see anything. I was getting confused, but actually wasn't afraid. Thank you fear toxin! After a couple seconds in darkness, I heard the clicking of a switch, and a light from a lamp came on. There, I saw the Scarecrow sitting in a recliner.

"Dr. Crane?" I asked.

"Hello, Carmel." He rose very slowly from the chair, going to turn on another light. "Well, don't just stand there gawking."

I closed the door and locked it. I couldn't help but smiling upon seeing him standing there.

"What's so funny?"

"Oh, I just thought it was funny how you were in the chair waiting for me."

"Janet texted me once she picked you up, so I knew you were coming. I unlocked the door and then turned off the lights just in case someone else stumbled in here by mistake," he explained.

"It felt like I was a teenager out late and you were my disappointed father waiting up for me."

He shook his head. "Anyone else would have been terrified to see me sitting there, and you thought it was funny," he grumbled.

"That's your fault! All that fear toxin is working."

"Fair enough."

With light properly restored, I was able to get a better view of the Corn Palace. There was nothing palatial about it, let me tell you. It was a dingy, old, run down apartment unit. I was standing in what would be considered the living room, which consisted of an old tan couch that was covered in red and white stains. Definitely not going to ask about that. In addition to the beat-up recliner that Dr. Crane had sat in, a single TV was the only other adorning feature in the room. Past the living room was the kitchen, which didn't look like anything out the ordinary. There was a hallway to the left and right.

Crane pointed to the left hallway. "This is your room and bathroom. I had all of your personal effects put in there."

I headed over there to explore and found my new room was basically stuffed with the contents of my old apartment, with very little rhyme or reason to the placement. "Yeah, I'll need to do some reorganizing."

"You know, I had to move my lab completely out of there for you," he said in a tone that almost made it seem like he resented I was moving in, although he was the one who wanted me here.

"Very considerate of you," I replied in a sincere tone, deciding not to tease him.

There was a bathroom next to the bedroom, completing the hallway. "That's yours. Rarely used before, so I must say I'm not sure how well it works."

I checked it out, and it was one of the smallest bathrooms that I'd seen, but there was a toilet, shower, sink, and grimy mirror, so I guess it checked all the boxes.

"The other hallway mirrors this and is my bedroom, and now lab, as well as my bathroom," he explained.

"Not much of a palace," I quipped.

He smirked. "That's part of the charm."

"What have you been up to?" I asked him.

"Not a whole lot. I've been lying low and getting this place in a somewhat decent shape. Haven't been here in a while," he explained. "Probably three years. I have begun synthesizing liquid concentrations of the fear toxin. Despite the use of it in the Asylum, I find powder toxin to generally be the least effective."

"Will I need exposure to the liquid form?"

He thought about it for a few seconds. "It probably wouldn't hurt."

"Wonderful. And here I'd been going though withdrawals," I teased.

He grinned. Which is still a terrifying sight! "Wouldn't that be something? Afraid of not receiving fear toxin."

"So you've got nothing for me to do at this time? If not, I'm gonna get to work at getting my room in order," I transitioned.

"Ah, that will not be the case. Your first night on the job is today."

"Oh?"

"Yes, at Gotham Casino. 6:00 to 11:00. I secured very generous hours for you."

"I appreciate that. Never been there. Is that one of Penguin's?"

He chuckled. "No. I took great care to keep you away from Oswald. You should have very little trouble there."


I spent the next hour or so doing some organizing in my room before it was time to go. I also immediately changed clothes, thrilled to have something different to wear than the two outfits that I alternated between at Arkham. When it was time to go, I headed into the living room to find Scarecrow, but he wasn't there. I went over to his room.

There, I got a good look at his room, although there wasn't much to see. For his bedroom portion, there was a bed and a bookcase and that was it. However, the more interesting portion of the room was his lab. Several tables were set up with various bottles of chemicals scattered around them. Plenty of cardboard boxes were stacked against the wall near the lab.

He was working at the lab when I walked in. "Yes, child?"

"I'm going to head to work, but I'm not sure where my car is," I explained.

"It's parked on the street out on the back. You can park there all the time. The spot belongs to an old man who lives across the street."

"He doesn't mind?"

"He's been dead for seven years now," the Scarecrow replied with looking up. "The city has no idea, though."

Welcome to Gotham City at its finest. "Oh, alright then. See you after work." And with that, I headed out to reunite with my car and go to work.

When I arrived at Gotham Casino and told one of the security guards my name, they brought me back to some offices, dropping me off at a door marked Christopher Williams. I knocked and the door and heard a "Come in." Entering, I saw my boss at his desk. He was an African-American man with a bald head and glasses sitting on top of his head. He looked to be in his mid-forties and had a graying circle beard.

"Mr. Williams? I'm Carmel Ocean."

"Ah, yes, Carmel. I'm Christopher, the headwaiter here at Gotham Casino. It is a pleasure to meet you." He had a slight Jamaican accent. "We received a glowing recommendation about you."

I suppressed a smile, wondering exactly what this recommendation was. And who did Scarecrow have to talk to or intimidate? "I'm very excited to be here," I replied.

"That's great. We'll get you on the floor tonight. It's a pretty easy job, really. You go around the casino, asking patrons if they want any drinks. If they do, you take down their order and come back to the bar. The bartenders will make up the drink and you'll bring it out to them. While drinks are complimentary, the expectation is that they give you a tip of some sort. This likely is in the form of a chip, but it could be cash too. The other job is collecting empty drink cups and bringing those back to the bar. So basically, you're a runner."

"That seems easy enough to handle."

"Exactly. Now let's go get your uniform." Christopher led me over to a wardrobe, where he took out my uniform. It consisted of a black halter top with a strap across the midback and a shimmery, sequined gold miniskirt. I was pleased to see that despite the open back, the shirt was not a deep cut. After my time at the Asylum, I was relieved to be wearing something less revealing.

"Now, you'll have to bring all of the tips back, because, as I said, the drinks are complimentary. So really, the "tips" are just the payment for covering the drinks. As such, you'll be getting an hourly wage. We pride ourselves on providing one of the better wages for our waitresses," Christopher continued. "All your paperwork has been taken care of, so unless you have any questions, we can get you out the floor as soon as you get dressed." He headed back to his desk and pulled out a lock with a piece of paper taped to it.

It was a little unsettling that the Scarecrow was able to just access all of my records and bank account to get all of the paperwork filled out. And, of course, he must have changed some of records to remove my recent criminal record. Well, it was probably Janet. Of course, that's assuming that they actually did the paperwork. Bribes could have been involved here. "Not really, no."

"Excellent. Then follow me, and I'll show the waitresses' room." He led me to a different room. There, lockers were labeled with various names. "You can put whatever you want in here while you work." He then pointed to a door. "There's a bathroom, so you can get changed. When you're ready, come back to my office and I'll take you out on the floor." He handed me the lock and paper, which had the combination on it.

"Thank you," I replied. He headed out and I headed into the bathroom to change. I then put my other clothes and my purse in my locker and locked it all up. This isn't going to be so bad, I told myself.

I headed back to Christopher's office and he then brought me to the floor and showed me around. Then, he wished me good luck and I was now on my own. First honest job in a couple years!


The night proceeded uneventfully. After a few trips to the bar, it became pretty easy to figure things out. I quickly found out that the tables were my best bet for getting drink orders. I set a couple of long routes to make my way through the casino. And not long after that, it became clear that hitting a table after a good outcome usually helped too. Thus, I would try to not swing by the craps table until I heard sufficient cheering. Overall, it was a pretty easy job, and I was thankful that Scarecrow was able to set me up with it.

As I arrived back at the Corn Palace at 11:30, I wondered if Scarecrow would be up. He was, sitting in the armchair watching TV. I was quite surprised to see that, as watching TV isn't exactly what I would expect a supercriminal like the Scarecrow to do, but I guess they're just like everyone else in terms of entertainment.

"How was work?" he asked without looking at me.

"It was pretty decent. Don't think it will be too tricky," I replied.

"Perfect. That was the goal. I have some news."

"Yes?"

"I'm sending you on a job tomorrow. It's time to begin."

"Oh? What's the job?"

"You're going to be visiting Egghead."


Hey there everybody! I know that it's been a long time since I've updated this, but I have not abandoned A Nightmare Fantasmic! I apologize for the long delay on this chapter. I plan on getting a couple more updates in before the year is through, so you'll see some more regular updates. Next time we will finally see the Scarecrow start to make some moves. Thanks to all of you who read/read/favorite/follow this story!

See ya real soon,

The Mustachioed Academic