Crane paced around the old wooden chair Adriana sat in, holding his notebook in one hand and a cup of steaming hot coffee in the other.
"Are you sure you don't want anything to drink?"
"I'd rather not."
"Why? You think I'd try to poison you?" Crane chuckled and placed the cup on the bed stand. "No, no. Poisoning is your gig, remember?"

Adriana watched him, her eyebrows in a permanent frown as he continued walking around her. "Let me guess…you're some kind of private investigator. You've been stalking me…trying to see if I'd kill anyone." She rose from her seat and pointed at him. "You got lucky, tonight. I wouldn't have gotten caught if you would have just butted out!"

"Sit down. Please." Crane pushed down on her shoulder, shoving her into her seat. He squatted in front of her and cocked his head curiously. "You think I'm a P.I.? Just because I found out your little scheme?" Crane rose up again and scribbled in his notebook. "As I said before, my name's Jonathan Crane. Doctor Jonathan Crane." He tossed the book into her lap and smirked. "I've been studying you. You see, I'm a psychiatrist and—"

"Whoa…hold on. Did you just say 'studying' me? STUDYING? Listen buddy, I don't know who you are…but you have NO right to study me!" She yelled, launching his notebook onto the floor. "Just what the heck is your problem?"

Crane remained stony faced and plucked his book from off the ground. "I have no problem. On the contrary. My observations have been quite…rewarding."

"You were one of those kids who got his head flushed down the toilet a lot in school, huh Doctor? After hitting on the cute cheerleaders, their jocky boyfriends gave you a few too many swirlies..."

Crane placed two fingers against Adriana's neck and looked down at his watch, smirking coyly. "My life is not the one being analyzed here, Mrs. De Soto. Hmm…interesting." He scribbled onto the book and raised an eyebrow. "You seem quite calm, despite your current situation."

"Maybe because I realize I'm in the presence of a psychiatrist, not a killer." She snapped and folded her arms. "Or maybe because you are perhaps the saddest person I've ever met in my life and I feel a little pity for your pathetic existence."

"I liked the first answer better." Crane sat opposite her and folded his legs one over the other, resting his ankle on his knee. He stared at her for a while, making her uncomfortable, before he quickly wrote on the papers. "You see, Mrs. De Soto, as a psychiatrist I enjoy studying how the human mind grows, develops, changes…And, after doing a little research, I feel it safe to say that your mind has been quite busy lately."

Adriana scowled. "Excuse me? I'm perfectly fine, Doctor Crane. I have NOTHING wrong with my head."
"So you say. But your actions prove otherwise." He ran a finger down his paper and raised an eyebrow. "At first you were quite invisible. I barely noticed your daily happenings until it was brought to my attention."

"I don't try to bring attention to my actions, doctor. I was visiting my husband's grave. I was a grieving widow."
"And now you are a serial killer. Your mind has slowly regressed. And once your mind began to dissipate, so did your morals."

Adriana dug her fingers into the arms of the chair. "I am not crazy," she spoke softly, her voice quivering with anger. "I had my reasons for what I did…but I'm not crazy."

"You killed four men. Five, if you count tonight."
"I needed to make my point!"
"So targeting five handsome, rich, young men is the means to get that point across?"
Adriana glowered. "You're the psychiatrist here…you think you know me so well, then figure it out yourself."

Crane fixed his glasses and folded his hands, resting them on his leg. "Well, you see, Mrs. De Soto…my focus is more behind the fear that drives people to do what they do. I believe that if I can figure out exactly what is making you do this, I will gain a little more knowledge to add to my notes."

"Fear? Is this what all this is about? You want to see if something was scaring me to the point of murder?" She laughed and shook her head. "I think I'm going to leave now. Have fun observing someone else Doctor Crane, because I refuse to let you play these little mind games on me any more." Adriana got up, ready to leave, when Crane grabbed her wrist rapidly.

"Mind games? No mind games here. I'm just trying to talk with you."
"Let me go."
"Why are you doing this? You wanted attention…you got attention. Shouldn't you be stopping now?"
Adriana hesitated before a dark look came over her. "I said let me go."
"I will. Once you tell me why you haven't stopped yet."

"I won't stop!" Adriana yelled, but Crane didn't budge. She wrenched her arm away and stood in front of him, her eyes flashing. "Is that what you want to hear me say? To say that I enjoyed watching those pompous pretty-boys fall on their faces once they had a heart attacks, to say they had a quick death, practically painless? Well, forget about it. I will stop. Once I get what I want, I will stop. But the bat…I want him to suffer the most. He took away everything precious to me." Adriana seethed, angry tears falling from her lashes.

Jonathan said nothing. He had an expressionless face and only moved to push up his glasses. Adriana shifted her weight on her leg and slowly sat back down. Crane pushed his notebook aside and curled his finger around his chin as he studied the girl's face before finally speaking.
"Mrs. De Soto…I honestly see no reason for you to ever stop. Even if you meet the Bat face to face…once you get the chance, you will continue."

Adriana held her face in her hands, biting her lip. "You don't know that."
"Oh. But I do. You see, I'm in the same boat as you are. I would have told myself the same thing…but I still haven't stopped my ways and habits." He bent down and began rummaging under his bed. Adriana watched as he pulled up a tattered old newspaper clipping and handed it to her.

She looked at the picture and saw that it was him, Jonathan Crane. The caption below mentioned a court trial, finding him guilty and sending him to Arkham. Her heart stopped. She was sitting in front of an escaped madman.

"I wanted to continue my experiments. I had a few people get in my way. Rachel Dawes, a nosey young lady, was quite persistent. She would have been easily run down if it hadn't been for the bat-man. I had him bending to my whim once, but he learned and overcame what I threw at him. In turn, he attempted to turn my mind into mush. Using my own weapons against me." At this, Crane laughed. It was a soft, chilling laugh that ran up Adriana's spine. "I was far too smart…when the SWAT team blew up that hole in Arkham, I knew this would be my chance to get back at the man who sent me there."

Adriana sat in silence. Doctor Crane was right, in some ways. They were quite similar in the fact that both lost something close to them; Adriana lost her husband, Crane lost his job and some of his sanity. But something nagged at her. He mentioned his "past ways" and how he continued to practice them. Curious, she cleared her throat.

"Doctor Crane…you…uh…why did you get sent to Arkham anyways? I mean…you're not a psycho mass murderer are you?"
"Me? Murderer? No, no, no…of course not. Actually, I am quite glad you mentioned that." Crane began rummaging beneath his bed as he continued speaking. "I told you already that I studied how fear affects people, correct?"
Adriana hesitated. "Y-yes."

"So, I want to show you exactly why I was sent to Arkham."
Adriana sank into her seat as Crane pulled a clean metal box up onto his lap and opened it slightly. His eyes focused on her face and a smile ghosted his face once more.
"You look nervous."
"I…I just don't know. What do you have in that box anyways? A gun? Spiders?"

"No, better than that." Crane slowly pulled a brown object from his case. He held it in his hands, hiding if from Adriana, and squinted as he stared at it. "Adriana, tell me. Did your husband ever mention a plan about some gas that was released throughout Gotham?"

Adriana nodded, holding the arms of the chair a little tighter. "Yeah. He was called out one night because there was a breach at…" She trailed off and stared at Crane. He was pulling something over his face, a mask it looked like. Two holes were cut out for his eyes as well as a "mouth" messily sewn across the face. Some burn marks were located on the face, but Adriana wasn't sure why. All she could focus on were the two cold eyes staring at her.

Suddenly, out of seemingly nowhere, a white cloud of smoke consumed her vision. Adriana began to cough and gag, holding her throat and pushing on the floor with her legs. The chair screeched as she slid backwards and collapsed to the floor with a sickening thud. For a moment, she lay on the floor and blinked, enjoying the rough feeling of wood under her cheek. She wasn't dead…nor was she going to die. But everything around her was warping and shining, and she felt a growing feeling of nausea as things began to spin.

Crane sauntered over casually and grabbed Adriana around her middle to hoist her to her feet. She turned, stumbling slightly, and her eyes grew wide.
"Mrs. De Soto…surely you've heard of The Scarecrow, haven't you? Your husband was there when I was arrested and shipped off to the asylum…he must have mentioned the crazy man who was dumping chemicals into the water supply…"
Adriana whimpered, shaking her head and trying to shut her eyes.
"Please let me go home."
"Home? Why? You have nothing to go to at home…" Crane brought his masked face closer, the mouth growing into a wide, lopsided grin. "Am I scaring you, Mrs. De Soto?"
Adriana trembled, opening an eye. She let out a scream and pointed at his face. "Worms!"
"Worms? Hm…that is a little strange now isn't it? I thought that I was the worm…" He reached out and pinned Adriana's arms to her sides. "So you see? We never change our ways, Mrs. De Soto. I will always be The Scarecrow. I will continue my experiments. I will continue to strike terror into Gotham citizens one by one. You're going to do the very same…I can see it now."

Adriana shook her head and frowned sharply. This man wasn't going to reduce her mind into a mess of paranoia. She balled her hand into a fist, waiting until Crane released his grip, and swung around her hand, striking him in the cheek. The worms and maggots scattered around her fingers and sprinkled over the floor as Jonathan roared in pain.
"I'm not going to be another one of your victims, Doctor Crane. You think you can frighten me…but you can't. I lived through my greatest fear already…losing everything I loved. I will get back at the Bat…don't you worry about that, sir."

Jonathan held his cheek and writhed on the ground. She had struck him on his injured cheek, the one scarred from the taser, so hard that black spots were floating through his vision. He didn't want to get up, and he didn't want to get another punch…especially from a girl. But if she escaped…he would be found eventually. With much difficulty, Jonathan grabbed the edge of his mattress and pulled himself up, staggering around for a moment. He looked up in time to see Adriana barreling towards him like an angry bull. His arms flew up to guard his face from another assault, but she instead grabbed a handful of burlap and wrenched the mask from his face. Crane gave a startled cry, struggling to retrieve it from her hand.

Adriana yelped, dropping the mask and watching as maggots crawled over her hands and fell to the floor with soft popping noises. Her head snapped up, ready to face Doctor Crane. But something stopped her. Her eyes grew wide and she grew very pale.

Crane took the opportunity to overpower her and shoved her back into the chair. He towered over her, his hand outstretched.

"Give. Me. The mask."

Adriana, trembling, handed over the burlap mask and sucked in her breath as he snatched it from her. Crane stared at her in curiosity. She was looking at him as if he had two heads on his body. Her green eyes were wide, but void of any life. She looked at him as if he was there, yet wasn't there at the same time. She let out a soft sob and pursed her lips as tears threatened to pour forth.

Jonathan wheeled around on his heels and crouched in front of the young lady. She squeaked, throwing her hands up to her mouth as her convulsions grew worse. Crane thought it must have been a reaction to the gas, but he quickly changed his mind once she reached out and held her palm up to his face.

Jonathan scanned her face and backed up slightly. "Excuse me, Mrs. De—"

"Carlos!" Adriana blurted, the color completely drained from her face as she threw her arms around Jonathan. The psychiatrist practically fell backwards if he hadn't managed to throw his arms back. Once he regained balance, he immediately tore away from the girl and took large steps back.

Adriana looked confused. Her eyebrows were knitted upwards in a bewildered look and she winced. "Sweetheart…what's the matter? Carlos, it's me…"

Crane ducked as the girl tried to touch his face again. He refused physical contact, especially from one of his experiments. But she was adamant. She truly thought he was her husband.

And idea slowly dawned on him, and Crane grinned. Oh this was perfect. Her state of mind was so deteriorated that her hallucinations were grossly vivid. She could picture things she wanted…they manifested before her eyes.

'Interesting…'

Crane circled the wide-eyed lady and rested a hand on her shoulder. Perhaps a little manipulation in the name of science was in order.

Adriana looked up at him and shuddered. Here she was, facing her husband. She knew he was dead…she had been there at the burial. But right now, he was so real…

"Adriana, are you alright?" That was Carlos's gentle voice. She knew it. Adriana broke down and began to sob, falling into 'Carlos's' shoulder. She shook madly and clutched to him. She didn't want him to disappear. She didn't want this to be a dream.

Jonathan swallowed his utter loathing as the girl clung to him like velcro. He eventually held down his pride and raised a hand to pat her shoulder. "My poor dear." Crane frowned. 'That was lame. How long has it been since I ever talked to a girl? I sound like my grandfather…' Jonathan held the shuddering girl tighter. "Adriana, what did they do to you? What happened to the strong girl I knew before."

Adriana sniffled and looked up, wincing. "Wh-what? Carlos…I….I am strong. I'm still strong."

"Crying? You call that strong?" Crane held the girl out at arm's length. "Whatever happened to the bright lady I married? You're so…weak and pathetic. I…I could barely recognize you."

"Carlos, I'm still the same. I am. I…I'm trying so hard to fix things. I swear it."

Crane's head rolled back just a bit. He stared at her through the very bottom of his glasses and raised an eyebrow. "You're going to fix things…How? By sitting around? Adriana…look at what happened to me. How could you just take that by sitting down?"

Crane watched as Adriana seemed to crumble before him. He had found her weakness, and wanted to twist it until she couldn't take it any longer.

"I…I'm going to fix it. I swear to you…" Adriana murmured, her empty eyes growing hard. "I'll make sure the Bat pays for it in full."

"Not just the bat. Everyone. Everyone who treats you like an inferior, everyone who tries to hurt you. Do you understand me? Everyone."

Adriana reluctantly nodded and stepped forward. "I understand." Adriana tilted her head and smirked, slowly brushing her fingertips on Crane's bruised cheek. "I promise to make them pay."

Crane, taken aback by her sudden approach, grabbed her hand tightly. He spun her into the wall, sending various things from the nightstand to the floor. She stared at him with a mixture of bewilderment and fear until the sound coming from the various objects hitting the floor turned her look to utter terror. She struggled to free herself from Crane's grip and shook wildly.

"What did I tell you about being strong, Adriana?" Crane hissed, his voice venomous as the girl struggled to shrink into the wall. "What's the matter? Hmm? You look a little…" Crane's voice lessened as he frowned. The girl was shaking more than before. "Adriana…" he winced, watching her eyes grow wider and emptier by the second. "What's wrong?"

Adriana pointed a quivering finger to his forehead. "God no…please…please make it go away!"

Crane couldn't see it, but Adriana was struggling to hold down her nausea as she stared at her husband's face. She had watched as the nightstand items toppled over, but for some reason, the sound of the objects hitting the floor was so loud she flinched when she heard it. Everything seemed amplified…noises, colors, shapes, shadows, everything. Once she looked up again after the thunderous clatter, she was face to face with the hideous sight of her husband…a bullet through his head. She couldn't bear to look at it, but he continued to press forward, pushing her to the wall. She was feeling queasy. She had been able to stand the funeral, and had even been able to handle the footage on the news stations day after day, the footage where the shots rang out and she saw her husband collapse. But to see her husband's injuries in full view...to see them right in her face…

Crane watched as Adriana's eyes rolled back and she crumpled into a heap against the wall. He smirked coyly, slowly making his way to the bed to grab his notes. Flipping open to a fresh page, he began to write.

Subject B exposed to fear gas. Used medium dosage. Results were unique to the specimen. Due to her extreme mental psychosis, hallucinations were more violent and believable. Also, personal memories, such as memory of deceased husband, manifested into her hallucinations.

I believe that Subject B feels need to keep husband's memory alive, as well as avenge death. She feels need to prove her strength, to show husband that she is still capable and still what she used to be.

Subject B collapsed after seeing some sort of unpleasant vision. Will need to ask more once specimen awakens from unconsciousness. More studies necessary.

"But now," Crane grimaced over his nose at the body nearby. "I'm going to have to bring this young lady back home." He looked around and grumbled a hateful, "Wonderful."