Beautiful Crazy: A Scarecrow Fanfic by Dalton Lewis

not copyrighted

I mainly write novels. Check out "A.R.T.S.: At-Risk Teen Supers" by Dalton Lewis. It's about four wonderful teen supers who fight injustice and have personal problems. Look it up on amazon. It's three dollars and it helps my career get going. Also you can find me on under Daniel Trump. Thanks.

They hate me - the normal people. They don't understand me. I'm the Scarecrow, the feared crazy person, the mentally ill villain, and Batman beats me to a pulp and arrests me. I'm that guy. They run and scream when I walk by, in my costume, lobbing fear gas and terrorizing the city. I'm mentally ill. They run from me in fear and dread.

My phone rang. I looked at the number. Scam Likely. He called me more than anyone. I didn't know who called me. I sat in my bedroom of my apartment in Gotham City - in the heart of the city, above a lab. I worked at the lab, as Jonathan Curemore, a man who did research for a company trying to develop better cures for Parkinson's and Alzheimer's. It's boring work, and it will take years for any breakthrough, but it's work that pays the bills. It's honest work.

How did I get here? Why am I not a teen hero, running around and saving galaxies from Thanos and the like? Why did I end up this person? I didn't know. I just knew that I sat around my office, above the lab, puttering away on my computer, listening to music from thirty years ago, building wargaming miniatures, and bored of all the things I did in life.

Suddenly I heard a slamming sound. My computer went blank. I looked at it. There was a batarang in it. I turned around to see Batman, crouched in the corner, looking at me, his black armor looking invincible.

"That's expensive," I said.
"I don't care," he said. "Where's Gabrielle Stars?"

"I don't know who that is," I said.

"She's missing, and fear gas was found near the scene," Batman said. "You know anyone else who uses your fear gas?"

"A lot of people could have reverse engineered the formula, developed it, weaponized it, and used it on people," I said.

"Bullshit," he said. "Half a dozen people, tops."

"I'll make a list," I said. "But I don't know all of them, off the top of my head. Lucius Fox could do it. Barbara Gordon could do it. Harley Quinn could do it."

"None of those people would kidnap a fourteen-year-old girl," Batman said. "Do better or go to prison. To Arkham."
"It's a hospital, and it's practically a revolving door," I said. "But no, I don't want to go there. I'll think of others. Um, Nigma, maybe, he's smart."

"No," Batman said. "He's in Star City."

"Oh," I said. "Alibi'ed out. Got it. What about the Joker? He could find somebody to do it."

"He wouldn't frame you," Batman said.

"He'd do anything," I said.

"The clown didn't do this one," Batman said. "This looks like an abduction and murder of a girl, possible serial. The killer might do this as a pattern."

"Oh?" I asked.

"There's another girl, maybe missing, we're not sure yet."

"Can I see the sample of the fear gas and try to reverse engineer where it came from?"

"Fine," Batman said. He took out a sample, and I took it downstairs to the lab. It was the middle of the night so no one bothered us. I put the sample into a microscope, an advanced one invented by Wayne Enterprises. I looked at the fear gas and laughed.

"This isn't funny," Batman said.

"It is," I said. "He stole my sample, all right. He used one of my samples. I will look to see if someone stole said sample, go upstairs to check up on it. Apparently I have had a burglar."

"Be more careful with your weapons of mass destruction," Batman said.

"Yeah, yeah," I said. "I am careful."

I walked back upstairs and into a vault. I pressed the button to open it with my thumbprint and opened the vault. When I opened it I noticed something immediately. The gas containers were wiped clean.

"Someone took them, wiped them clean, and put them back, wearing gloves," he said. "And replaced them with fake samples. These aren't mine. These are knockoffs. They stole mine and gave me fake fear gas."

"Grim," Batman said. "How do we catch the thief?"
"I don't exactly record what happens here," I said.

"Wow," Batman said.

"Let me look for fingerprints or DNA," I said.

"There won't be any; he's good," Batman said.

"Then we look for the traffic cams outside and look into who looked up my address online, who asked about me," I said. "A limited number of people know me, right?"

"This guy is an incel, an alienated loner," Batman said. "He won't collaborate with the other criminals."

"Ah," I said. "So he looks me up, finds me online, and sneaks in and steals it and leaves fake stuff in its stead."

"Yes," Batman said. "Leaving you without fear gas."

"So we scour the net for someone who looks me up and finds my location," I said.

"They won't be traceable," Batman said. "We have to smoke him out. Say there's better gas, wait for him to try to hit it."

"Smart," I said. "All right, I"ll post about fear gas 2.0, the new stuff, the best fear gas ever, the stuff that is totally perfect in every way, the greatest chemical invention since hydrogen bonded with oxygen."

"Fine," Batman said. "Now we hide and wait for him. I have a room across the way."

"Of course you do," I said.

We walked across the street and into a room across the way after putting some bugs in my apartment.

I sat there, next to Batman, somehow roped into helping him find this girl - somehow helping him rescue a girl who would run in terror if she ever saw me.

I hated myself more than a little bit. I knew that when I was young I had helped Ra's Al Ghul - in my ignorance I had believed him to be a paragon of virtue, an honorable assassin, a person who was going to save countless lives and improve the world. I wanted to help him repair what was wrong with society. I became a true believer in his League of Shadows. I helped him poison the water supply. I did a long time in a mental health facility because of this. I did my time. I left after a dozen years or so because I got sick of it and decided that I had done enough time. Batman didn't protest or try to lock me up again. The police ignored it and pretended that I had been released. I didn't argue with it.

As I watched my apartment I chatted online with direct messaging to the fourteen-year-old girls who were friends with Gabrielle Stars. I asked them about every male who was in their social circle, every male adult that she knew and talked to, and then I started to profile them to see if any of them had a number of red flags.

"Where's Barbara Gordon?" I asked.

"None of your business," Batman said.

"Someone needs to talk to the teen girls, find out who has been talking to them, and monitoring them," I said. "I'm doing my best but need help. They don't trust me. They'll trust her."

"No," Batman said. "You do it."

"Fine," I said. "So, how's fighting crime?"

"The Joker killed a dozen people this week," Batman said.

"I'm sorry," I said.

"I arrested him, it almost killed me," Batman said. "He busted out an hour later."

"I'm sorry," I said.

Leopold Wallace walked into my home and looked around for a safe. He bypassed my security like it wasn't even there with an app designed by the Joker.

"Who's that?" Batman said.

"Leopold Wallace is a low-level criminal and burglar," I said. "Who apparently is not as low-level as we thought. Are we getting him or following him to Gabrielle?"
"Getting him," Batman said. "I can make him talk."

"By beating him senseless," I said.

"It works," Batman said.

"No, it's terrible, and it's a breach of conduct," I said.

"I'm a criminal," Batman said.

We charged into the apartment and Batman punched Leopold Wallace and slammed him into the ground. Leopold Wallace collapsed immediately and screamed.

"What, what, what the hell?" he asked.

"Where's Gabrielle?" Batman asked.

"Who the hell is Gabrielle?" Leopold asked.

"Gabrielle Stars!" Batman yelled. "You gassed her and kidnapped her."

"No," Leopold said. "I didn't. I just was stealing the fear gas."

"For whom?" I asked.

"I didn't ask his name," Leopold said. "I am giving it to him at an exchange at Gotham's Central Park, tonight, in an hour."

"You'll deliver it," Batman said.

"Okay," Leopold said.

"And then we'll follow the guy to Gabrielle," I said.

"Exactly," Batman said.

"Sounds good," Leopold said. "And then I can go free?"

"Yeah," Batman said.

"Yeah," I said. "Just don't steal from me any more, okay?"

"I won't," Leopold said. "I won't."

We went to the park: the two of us a block behind Leopold Wallace but watching his every move with a sonar-like device on his person - something invented by Fox. Leopold Wallace walked into the park - a beautiful place.

Gotham's park was amazing. The trees were full of green leaves and made the place look like a wonderful break from the buildings all over Gotham City. There were flowers, too - many flower beds with amazing flowers, from roses to daisies to any other kind of flowers. Poison Ivy had made Gotham City's plants into the envy of the rest of the world's parks. Leopold dropped the fear gas underneath a bench and walked away, nervous. Someone else walked up to the bench and picked up the package and started to walk away. He wore a white mask and a business suit.

"I hit him with an invisible tracker," Batman said. "Following him, a block away."

We followed a block away, zip-lining through the city behind the man with the white mask. I had a spare zip-line just in case I had to use it. I followed Batman through the city. He followed the suspect to a place in the narrows, an abandoned factory. The suspect walked into an abandoned factory and walked up to a cell with a lock and a scared fourteen-year-old girl inside. Batman charged into the abandoned factory to see the criminal take off the mask. It was Zsasz.

"Hello, Batman," Zsasz said. "You caught me. I always did like torturing and scaring schoolgirls. And hello, Jonathan, I hope you don't mind, I used your fear gas, this kind, it's great, you outdid yourself, creating a weapon of death."

"That isn't yours," I said.

"Oh, but I can hurt so many innocent people with it, and we've learned the truth about you, Jonathan Crane."

"What's that?" I asked.

"You are an honorable person, researching mental illness," Zsasz said. "You are soft. Joker plans on killing you, you're not evil enough, not for him, not for us. I'm holding you for him. Letting him judge you."

"I don't think so," I said.

"And you're here with the Batman," Zsasz said. "That isn't good."

"I'm here because there's a fourteen-year-old girl who's been gassed."

"You're soft," Zsasz said. "You're going to die. And the Bat? I've got something special for him." He winked at Batman, and then someone appeared from behind Batman: Deathstroke. Batman turned and swore.

Zsasz swung his machete straight at Batman, who blocked with his bracers. He punched Zsasz several times and then ducked a sword swing from Deathstroke behind him. I punched Deathstroke and blocked his second sword with bracers of my own. Deathstroke backed away from me and pulled out two guns. I charged towards him and tried to attack him, grabbing at his hands with my hands. He managed to avoid me. I ducked into a side room to avoid most of the submachine gun fire. Batman and Zsasz fought, with Batman punching him in the head again and again. Batman always did fight ridiculously well.

I lost sight of Batman running around the tunnels in the abandoned factory, trying to avoid getting shot to death by Deathstroke. I tried to set a trap and backstab him, but he turned just as I tried to stab him. He smiled and backed away to avoid my dagger. I launched fear gas at him, but he smiled.

"We stole your stash," he said. "Including your armor's supply."

"Meaning I have the fake stuff," I said.

"And I have the real stuff," Deathstroke said.

He shot me with both guns, and the fear gas washed over me. I almost instantly could no longer see reality. I saw dragons, multiple dragons, fly up above me, and start to breathe fire on me. I dodged the dragons and their fire, knowing it wasn't real, didn't matter, and wouldn't help me at all. I felt being knocked down and handcuffed by a zip-line. I remember being dragged. It looked like a minotaur with a giant body was dragging me into a cell and then locking me up in the cell.

I looked around. I saw naked demons, male and female, with enormous bodies, threatening to hurt me. I felt the pain of someone stabbing me, over and over. Vultures flew around the air around me, ready to rip my body into pieces when it died. I felt like I was dying, over and over, several times over. Then, slowly, the fear gas left my system. I awoke to a room, a locked cell, with a roommate: a scared fourteen-year-old girl.

"Hey," I said.

"Hey," she said. "Please don't hurt me."

"I won't hurt you," I said. "I'm not a monster, just a mentally-ill researcher."

"I'm glad," she said. "They're waiting for the Joker."

"Why?" I asked.

"I testified that he killed my dad," she said.

I laughed.

"So this has nothing to do with serial killing teenage girls or fear gas."

"No, red herring," she said. "The Joker needs to get away with his crimes. It's always about the Joker getting away with his crimes. It was never about anything else."

"Do you regret it?" I asked.

"No," she said. "We don't have to fear the Joker. We can stand up to him."

I laughed. "I'm scared of him," I said. "He might kill me. He might kill you. He killed a lot of people."

"I'm an idiot woke girl, aren't I? Thinking that I can stand up to the Joker?"

"I'm actually kind of impressed," I said.

I heard laughter.

His laughter.

The Joker's laughter.

The Joker walked into the area right outside of our cell and looked at us. He wore a nice purple suit and had green hair and white face paint. He smiled a wicked, vicious smile. I was never so afraid in my life as that one moment.

"Joker," I said. "I'm not apologizing or negotiating."

"Neither am I," Gabrielle said.

"No? No?" the Joker asked. "You come to Gotham City, my city, and you pretend to be a big, scary villain, and you secretly do nothing. Nothing! You research a cure for Parkinson's. You cook yourself lunch. Lunch! We watched everyone, everyone who interested us, in Gotham City. You and Bruce Wayne, were the only worthless ones, living lives without meaning, living off of the rest of us. Off of our hard work, sweat, and tears. Did you know how I got my scars?"

"No," I said. "I honestly would love to hear how you got your scars."

"I was a criminal, stealing to have money to live. I didn't have much, and I was an honorable criminal, a good person, just stealing from people who had plenty. One time, I stole from a billionaire, with a b, and he caught me, stealing ten thousand dollars. His man grabbed me with one hand and with the other hand, he cut me, he cut me."

"I'm sorry, Joker, but I won't recant my testimony," Gabrielle said.

"You think this honor means anything?" Joker asked. "You have honor, right? You have a code? Let's test your code. If you kill Jonathan Crane you get to walk out. If you don't, you get to stay in here for a year. A year. Your choice."

"Jesus," I said. "You should kill me."

"No," Gabrielle said. "I won't kill him."

The Joker laughed. He turned to me. "And you, Jonathan Crane, need to rape and kill this poor, poor fourteen-year-old girl for me."

"No," I said.

"Or I will kill you," he said. "We can't have fake villians in Gotham City. We can't have soft villains. We can't have you in Gotham City."

"I won't hurt her," I said.

The Joker laughed and laughed.

He tossed a knife into the cell. Gabrielle picked it up and tried to stab the Joker with it. He backed away and laughed again.

"I'll give you a day to think about it," he said. "I'll be back in a day, see how long you can hold out."

The Joker walked away.

Zsasz walked back over to us. I smiled at him.

"Get over here," I said.

Zsasz smiled.

"Why?" he asked.

"Because I want to fight you in a fair duel," I said. "I win, I walk. You win, I die."

"Fine," Zsasz said. He opened the cell, and I tried to punch him immediately. He blocked and tried to kick me in the stomach. I blocked it and tried to throw him but failed. He turned and tried to punch me over and over, doing a great job of pissing me off.

I blocked his punches and jabbed a couple times and tried to wait for him to attack. Then I blocked and counterattacked. I was forty-four and in good but not great shape, and he was thirty and in his prime. I needed to fight perfectly to win the fight.

Then I punched him with an uppercut, knocking him backwards. He lunged towards me, but I flipped out of the way. He moved just behind Gabrielle. She looked at him, looked at her dagger, looked at me, shrugged, and stabbed Zsasz with the dagger. He collapsed, and she walked out of the cell, closing it and locking Zsasz in the cell. We walked out of the factory together and got Ubers away from the Narrows - she found her phone and my phone nearby so we had no trouble getting back to our places. I stood there, waiting for a ride.

"Let me know how you are doing," I said.

"Same," she said.

"Science is cool," I said.

"I'll start paying attention to science class," she said.

"Cool," I said.

I made it home and friended her on Facebook. I made it home and looked around. I upgraded my home security and began the process of making new gear and new fear gas. I wanted to upgrade everything and fight for…something. I didn't know what yet. I didn't agree with the villains or the heroes. I would find something…something to fight for.