Chapter 6: Halloween Night

The sun was still out in Gotham City when Lock, Shock, and Barrel arrived in the city's cemetery. Barrel licked his lollipop and stuck it on the tomb they came out of, as to be sure they came back. To be on the safe side, Shock stuck a pumpkin decoration into the soil. A few other graves had Halloween decorations, so it did not look out of place, but only one of those decorated graves bore a Halloween Town pumpkin. It would be easy to find.

"So...what do we do first?" Barrel asked.

"Hmm..." Shock thought. She perked.

"Let's start off---"

"With our very own---" Lock continued.

"Homemade goo!" Barrel exclaimed.

The threesome grinned. This was going to one fun night.

C. Gregory Kentworth was in his study, still shuddering in a corner as Batman and Robin entered the room.

"No!" cried Kentworth, cringing in further terror. "Stay away! Stay away!"

"Easy," said Batman.

He grabbed his arm and quickly injected the antidote. After a few minutes, Kentworth began to calm down. Batman grabbed his collar.

"Where is he?" he hissed.

"I don't know what you're talking about!"

Batman narrowed his eyes.

"The Scarecrow!" He pushed Kentworth into the wall. "Where is he?"

Kentworth grew pale again.

"I don't know what you're talking about!"

"He's the one who was blackmailing you. Where can I find him?"

I don't know!"

Batman growled.

"You know where he is! You provided him one of your factories. Talk!"

"I-it's the one on th-the other end of town. Th-he one that was closed for y-years until two months ago!"

Batman let him down.

"Let's go, Robin."

Robin started out the window. Batman turned to Kentworth.

"Oh, and Gregory---know that whatever information the Scarecrow has on you, I can find it out just as easily. And if whatever he knows turns out to be illegal, I'm turning you in."

With that, he jumped out the window. Kentworth fainted not long after.

Halloween Night in Gotham City was one of the most dangerous nights of the year. Trick-or-treaters always had two or three adults at minimum with them, costumes had to be bright and visible with all the shadows lurking around such a Gothic place, and the police constantly browsed all night long. Some places, like the malls and large department stores, offered trick-or-treating programs for the protection of the little children. Others went in the neighborhoods around the city, where there were houses and yards and lesser chances of running into a mugger or candy snatcher.

Trish was one of the guardians who preferred the malls and stores, and it was to her benefit to help out at Bergduffs. Employees got a special Halloween bonus this year. She drove her sister's Daisy Scouttroop there, and helped them trick-or-treat on each of the levels.

As they got to the fourth level, screams were heard downstairs.

"Spiders! Spiders everywhere!"

"And look at that web! W-we're trapped!"

Several screams and the sounds of people running came from downstairs. Trish looked over at the little Daisies, who were shuddering with worry.

"Stay here, girls," said Trish. "I'll go see what's up.

Trish practically jumped down the stairs to the first level. It was not too hard to see why people were freaking out. Amidst the Halloween decorations, hundreds of spiders were running around. A huge, thick, sticky spider web was spread across the entrance doors, and a few poor souls were stuck to it, with no way to get out. Trish ran into the elevator with a bunch of other people eager to get away. She pushed the button for the fourth floor, in order to get to the Daisy Scout troop. She pressed the button frantically.

"C'mon, c'mon!" she exclaimed.

The elevator soon arrived. Trish ran out to the Daisies.

"There are spiders everywhere downstairs, and there's this big web blocking the door."

The Daisies held each other and tried not to cry.

"Don't worry," said Trish, "they're closing the bottom two floors so they can't get us."

The girls looked relieved. Trish sighed. Hopefully, Bergduffs would still allow the trick-or-treating program to calm all of the now frightened kids down. She looked out one of the windows. Outside, a lot of green stuff was covering the street. Cars were stuck. People had to take off their shoes to get away. Others were helplessly stuck and in need of a rescue crew. There were more spider webs covering the streets, some bigger than the one on the downstairs entrance.

From what she could see, some people looked sick. Probably tainted candy. She looked and saw some people hanging from high buildings. Others were honking their horns like crazy. She could barely see it, but some people were trying to open their car doors and could not, as if they had been glued in place. Trish was beginning to worry. What was going on? Who was responsible for all this mess?

Lock, Shock, and Barrel ran down the street, pleased with themselves, laughing wickedly. Not even fifteen minutes into their little games, and already they were tearing the city apart.

"What idiots!" Shock said, laughing. "They're gonna have tummy-aches for weeks!"

"They won't be out of those webs 'til dawn!" Lock chuckled.

Barrel grinned. "And that goo won't let up for hours!"

"I love this place! These people are rattled!"

Lock pulled out a stick of paint and began to draw on a wall. "LSB Wuz Here!" he wrote out, before he began to draw childish, but demonic little Halloween pictures. Shock grinned.

"Morons," she said.

Lock finished up his "artwork."

"C'mon," he said, pulling on his mask. "Let's take a break and get some candy.

Shock and Barrel followed the suit.

"Yes," they said together. "Let's."

Back in his lair, the Scarecrow was working to create some more of his newest formula, to add to the serum he had on his person---only this time, it was a more concentrated dose, with no time induction. There was a small television set in the room. It was on, and he was listening to the news. There was another report on the Rejectz, how tonight was probably the last night that they would be available.

"With the turmoil that's going to happen tonight, it surely will be," the Scarecrow said with a smile.

He continued to work, when suddenly, the story was interrupted.

"This just in, someone truly put the 'trick' in 'trick-or-treat' with the chaos that's going on in Gotham this very evening. Summer Gleeson has the story."

"What!" the Scarecrow exclaimed, immediately turning away from his work and towards the television screen.

Summer's face appeared on screen.

"It's true. All over the downtown area, sticky goo covers the streets. Spider webs lurk in every alley! People are hung from buildings with no way to free their arms or legs! There's no telling what's going to come up next and---hey!"

A pumpkin landed at Summer's feet. The camera tried to locate the source, but with no luck. It quickly focused back on Summer.

"It's terrible! No one for sure knows who's behind it, but authorities say the Scarecrow is a choice suspect behind this new fear game---"

"WHAT!" he exclaimed again, pushing the television down, breaking it. "Someone stealing my modus operandi? No! This does not happen! I am the Master of Fear!"

The Scarecrow turned to his chemicals.

"I'll teach them. Fortunately, I was at the last step of the process."

He quickly set to work on finishing his fear serum, while at the same time, concocted a way to find the imposters...and get revenge.

The Batmobile stopped suddenly. The quickest street downtown was covered in green goo. Batman could tell from a distance that people were stuck. He opened the top and jumped out. Robin started to follow.

"Stay here," Batman ordered.

Robin grumbled and stayed in the car, crossing his arms. There was a policeman nearby. Batman ran up to him.

"What's going on, officer?"

"Can't say," said the policeman. "Witnesses say a few green balls came flying out of nowhere. Next thing we know, this stuff is covering the streets. It's like super glue!"

Batman went over to the goo. Using some tools from his belt and nearly ten minutes of frustration, he managed to collect a sample.

"It's worse than super glue. Super glue doesn't put up this much of a fight."

The policeman looked at him. Batman, having stored the goo sample in his belt, looked over at him.

"Any idea who's behind it?"

The policeman point to the alleys, and helicopters rescuing dangling victims.

"All this trouble on Halloween? All clues point to the Scarecrow."

"Hmm," Batman mused.

He shook his head. It did not seem like Crane to randomly trap people in sticky green goo---unless this was part of a fear experiment. Even so, though some of the victims did seem scared, something told him this was not the work of the Scarecrow.

"No," Batman replied, finally. "It doesn't fit his pattern. It's too random."

He went back to the Batmobile. Robin was there, waiting.

"Well?"

"Someone else had a similar idea---only they have different methods of scaring people. It's gonna be one of those nights."

The Batmobile turned around and sped off.

"Well, aren't you three so cuuuute!"

Lock, Shock, and Barrel, being downtown, noticed that there were more residential areas on the borders and were going house to house. The perky fairy queen put three handfuls of candy into their sack, then fawned over them.

"You're so little! And your costumes look so real!"

Shock smiled sweetly under her mask.

"Thanks, lady. They are."

"Aww, isn't that cute?" She patted the brim of Shock's hat. "They think they're real!"

Shock reached behind her back, where her slingshot was.

"Thank you!" Lock and Barrel said, turning to leave.

The perky fairy woman started back inside. Shock fired a ball of sticky goo. Just before the door closed. There was a scream, and then sobs. Lock, Shock, and Barrel ran, dragging their sack of candy, laughing mischievously.

"I don't think she'll ever call kids like us 'cute' ever again," said Shock.

"Nope," said Lock, though his laughter. "Served her right."

"Yeah!" said Barrel.

They went house to house, getting as much candy as possible. They were lucky enough to run into a few people who gave away the rest of their candy because they wanted to get rid of it, and because it was getting late and there probably would not be anymore trick-or-treaters. Normally they got a few pieces each, but at houses where the owners fawned over them or they only received one or two pieces each, they pranked them.

Classic Halloween vandalism like egging and throwing bathroom tissue on houses were mixed in with writing naughty things with their paint sticks and drawing scary faces on doorways. They smashed pumpkins and left burning "gifts" on people's doorsteps, so when someone came out and tried to step on it, the flame went out, but their foot was stuck in their infamous goo. Ding-dong-ditch was another common favorite of the threesome, but so was leaving terrible notes on the porches.

Deciding they had caused enough trouble here, Lock, Shock, and Barrel jumped back in their bathtub and headed back to the city to cause more trouble there.

The Scarecrow had long before finished the formula and restocked his supplies of fear serum, and was now in the streets of Gotham, anxious to find the tricksters responsible. He found some writing on a wall, in red. "LSB Wuz Here!" and several childish drawings were all over it. He thought for a moment.

"Either these vandals have poor art skills---or they are merely little children!"

He thought for a moment.

"But could children create such chaos as this?"

He shook his head. For a moment, the brilliant Professor Crane shone through the malevolent Scarecrow as he took a moment to try to analyze the personality (or personalities) of the one responsible.

"No. This cannot be. These vandals are older than children, far more intelligent---but have childish attributes, nonetheless. Obviously skilled in their art of trouble making, having a lot of downtown Gotham caught in such torment without being caught themselves---yet."

He thought for a moment, then smiled.

"And as troublesome as they are, they are more than likely to show up again."

The Scarecrow gave himself a small triumphant smile as he drove around the mess, having an idea of where the tricksters would show up. Little did he know he would not have long to wait...

(A/N: Yet again, another long update, and with school starting up again, I hope I can keep on top. Hopefully I made this chapter worth your while.

Serb: Yes, I thought it strange too, at first, to have Jonathan use dolls in his scheme, but the idea just worked out to my liking.

Silverline Schmitar: Out of character characters are my worst fanfiction nightmare. I do my best to keep them in character, and I am pleased they have come out to your liking. I will see what I can do as far as better descriptions.

Masked Encourager: "I love this story. It's one of the best written I've read in quite a while." That alone made my day when reading this. I must admit I was a bit nervous when I started out, worrying about the Reject scheme and the entire fact that this is a crossover. That brought so much relief that I do not know where to begin. Thank you.)