Things are finally picking up! Delilah is finally going to meet the Scarecrow! How is she going to react? Will he reveal Jonathan's plan, or will Delilah put the pieces together herself? Everything will be revealed in time.

Thank you all so much for reading, it really means a lot! I love sharing my ideas with everyone and I hope you all enjoy. Happy reading! :)

TW/CW for horror scenes; graphic descriptions of bullying, childhood sexual assault, discussions of suicide and death, and other horror-related themes

Chapter 10: Facing Fears

Jonathan had allowed Scarecrow to take over as they were performing an experiment on one of Sal Maroni's low level goons. He'd found the man spying on one of his meetings with Falcone's men, no doubt trying to gain intel to bring back to Maroni. Unfortunately for him he likely wouldn't be leaving the house alive or, if he did, he wouldn't be sane enough to recollect what happened. He'd spent some time interrogating the man before injecting him with the fear toxin and allowing Scarecrow to come out. The man had no useful information but hopefully he'd be an interesting test subject for the fear toxin. Scarecrow relished the experiments, as they allowed him to experience the pleasure of other people's fear first-hand. Jonathan typically observed while Scarecrow took control, doing his best to file away the physical and psychological symptoms the 'patients' experienced under the fear toxin. The effects of the toxin were at full escalation when the door suddenly opened. Both he and Scarecrow experienced a bit of shock when they saw Delilah's frightened form enter the room.

What the hell is she doing here?! She should be at Edward's! And what the hell are those tourniquets for? This can't be happening, she can't know yet!

Oh but don't you see, Jonny boy, maybe this means it is time for her to know! Somehow fate brought her right to us. She's inevitably going to wonder why I, or rather, we are here using the fear toxin on a subject in your house. What sort of explanation do you have for that?

I….I don't think I have one.

Precisely! So I'm going to stay here, Delilah and I are going to have a little chat, and I'll finally get to experience her delicious fear when I inject her with the toxin. It's a win-win-win for everybody.

No! I won't let that happen! I'm taking back control. This ends now!

Tsk tsk, Jonathan, I don't think so.

Jonathan's body stiffened as he experienced an internal battle for control with Scarecrow. In the end Scarecrow maintained control, pushing Jonathan's subconscious to the side.

Don't worry, Jonny, I won't reveal the whole plan yet. But I will make her scream for me, and I'll even let you watch….

Scarecrow started walking towards Delilah, delighting in her fearful display.

"You're….you're the Scarecrow." Delilah gasped, walking backwards. Her breathing increased and her eyes widened as she stared at Scarecrow, cursing the fact that she threw her last knife at Victor.

"It seems we finally get to meet, Delilah. I must say this has been a long time coming, and I'm incredibly excited to finally be able to play with you." Scarecrow chuckled as Delilah froze in place. She shuddered as his cold, mechanical voice echoed through the room. His voice was distorted by his mask, making it all the more terrifying to hear.

"How do you know my name?" Delilah asked coolly, trying to hide her fear.

"Hmm, that won't do. Don't you know I'm the Master of Fear? I can smell your fear, see it, taste it. It's pointless to try to act brave now, although I admire the effort."

"S-sure, whatever you say. But answer this; why are you in Dr. Crane's home? Where is he?"

"Oh, I don't want to talk about Jonathan right now, he's a bit occupied at the moment. All you need to know is that we're here, together, and we're going to finally explore your fears."

"Fuck you! We aren't exploring anything until I know that Jonathan is safe. And what are you doing with this guy?" Delilah demanded, standing her ground as Scarecrow stepped closer and closer to her.

Scarecrow cackled, clutching his sides in high-pitched, distorted laughter as Delilah attempted to assert herself.

"You are a riot my dear! You're in no position to make demands of me. But, if you must know, this insignificant worm is a spy that I'm taking care of, and Jonathan is perfectly fine."

Suddenly the man in the chair screamed, directing Delilah's attention to him.

"Please, just make it stop! The spiders, they're everywhere! They're biting me, it hurts so much! Please!" The man screamed out, struggling against his restraints.

Scarecrow turned his attention to the man and walked towards him, almost skipping as he got closer.

"Hm, you want the spiders to go away?"

"Yes! For the love of God, yes!"

"Your wish is my command."

Scarecrow cackled as he quickly pulled out a syringe and plunged it into the man's neck, watching the life drain from his eyes. He quickly took the restraints off of the man and his lifeless body crumpled to the floor. Delilah gasped in horror, directing Scarecrow's attention back to her.

"What did you just do to him?! And how am I supposed to know that Jonathan is okay? I want to see him!" She squeaked out, cursing herself for sounding weak.

"Well, I did to him exactly what I'll be doing to you soon, so you can experience it for yourself! As for Jonathan, I haven't harmed a hair on his precious little head, but I don't think you'd want to see him right now." He smirked as he saw a new anger appear in Delilah's eyes. One of her fists clenched as she stared him down.

"I want to see Jonathan. Now." She growled. Her blood boiled when Scarecrow began laughing at her again. He sauntered towards her with an unnatural pep in his step.

"Wow, no wonder he wouldn't let me out until now! You are so much fun! Here you are, injured, alone, defenseless, and you're making demands of me, a dangerous rogue? He probably knew how much I'd like you and knew I wouldn't let him come back." Scarecrow chuckled, delighting in the confused expression on Delilah's face.

"What do you mean? Who's 'he'?" Delilah questioned, taking a step backward.

"Actually, I think I'd rather talk about you. Tell me, Delilah, what do you fear? What makes your skin crawl, keeps you awake at night?"

"Once again, go to hell. I'm not playing your fear game here. If you won't tell me where Jonathan is I guess I'll find him myself."

Scarecrow suddenly lunged at her with a full syringe in his hand. She quickly dodged away from him and swung her fist, hitting him in the side. Scarecrow hissed as he absorbed the blow.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you. As much as I've loved this little back and forth I've been just dying to hear that scream of yours."

He lunged at her again, grabbing one of her arms in his tight grasp. She screamed as he yanked her towards him, taking her wrists in one of his hands. She struggled against him as he laughed hellishly at her.

"Mm, I can feel your fear, it's absolutely delicious! Scream for me again!"

He dragged her towards the chair. Delilah looked around the room, pulling against his grasp.

"I got away from Victor Zsaz, I'm not getting bested by scum like you!" Delilah hissed, glaring daggers at him.

"Ah, so that's where your injuries came from! Tell me, child, did seeing Victor make you afraid? Were you shaking against him? Were your eyes wide in terror, thinking about all the terrible things he could've done to you?" Scarecrow taunted.

Delilah gasped as he called her 'child'. Jonathan always called her that. It gave her an eerie feeling.

Delilah kicked him in the groin, grunting as he doubled over, letting go of her arms. She took that opportunity to sprint towards the door. She got close to it before she felt herself being tackled to the ground. Her head bounced against the floor, her vision swimming as Scarecrow straddled her.

He grabbed her hair and slammed her face against the floor again, attempting to disorient her as he pinned her wrists behind her back.

God damnit Scarecrow, I told you not to hurt her! Stop it, now! Let me out!

Relax Jonny boy! Lest we forget, she just punched us and kicked us in the balls! I'll leave her mostly unscathed but I'm not letting that woman get away with harming us. You'll feel better once I get the toxin in her.

"Please, please just let me go!" Delilah cried out, her fear finally getting the best of her. Scarecrow laughed as she squirmed against him. He stood up, pulling her to her feet before dragging her over to the chair. She swung her limbs wildly in an attempt to fight him off but was unsuccessful. He grabbed her wrist and locked it in one of the restraints, grinning as she continued to struggle.

"Why would I let you go my dear? I'm having too much fun!" Scarecrow guffawed as he finished strapping her into the restraints. He leaned in closer to her, delighting in the fact that she froze as he got closer. She squeezed her eyes shut and took deep breaths, trying to calm herself down. The coarse fabric of Scarecrow's mask rubbed harshly against her cheek as he rested near her ear.

"You think you can hide your fear from me? That's adorable. But I know you're still afraid. I know your heart is racing, your blood is rushing through your veins, your body is tense…." He ran one of his hands along her side, chuckling as she squirmed underneath him.

"You know nothing about me. All you are is a coward who's too afraid to show his face, and exploits the fears of others to ignore how much fear you actually have. Is that it? Is that why you enjoy terrorizing people like this?" Her eyes snapped open as she glared at him, a scowl on her face.

Scarecrow immediately backhanded her before grabbing her chin and yanking her face towards his.

"Listen, I have been more courteous to you than I normally am with my subjects. You're also forgetting the fact that you barged in on my last experiment, and I had to terminate that one prematurely because of you. I'm no longer interested in listening to you speak, now I just want to listen to you scream."

Scarecrow growled at her, grabbing a vial of his fear toxin from the tray next to him. Delilah tried to inch away from him in vain. In an instant she felt a sharp pain in her neck, squeezing her eyes shut and biting her lip to keep from screaming. Soon she felt her heart beating uncontrollably fast and felt tears in her eyes. She tried to hide her reactions to the toxin from Scarecrow but she knew he'd noticed.

"Don't try to hide it, Delilah, you're in for the time of your life. And I'll be right here, watching it all unfold."

Scarecrow taunted her as she felt the power of the toxin overtake her.

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Darkness consumed Delilah's vision as the effects of the toxin kicked in. She saw nothing around her but blackness. There was a spotlight shining directly on her that provided the only source light. She looked all around her to see if there was anything in sight to no avail.

Well, if this is all the toxin has in store then I guess everything will be okay. I'll just have to wait it out.

She sat down when suddenly the darkness seemed to melt away. The blackness dripped like ink downwards and upwards, pulling together in all directions. Light flooded into the area as her surroundings began to change, showing her a wooded area. The moon and stars shined in the night sky, illuminating a series of shabby log cabins, large pine trees, and a lake just past the cabins. Delilah thought for a second, not recognizing the area. She walked around the cabins, looking around but not seeing anyone around.

"Hello?" She called out, pausing at the sound of her own voice. It sounded a bit more high pitched than normal, almost squeaky. "Is anyone there?"

She toured each of the cabins but still couldn't see anyone. She kept walking, moving towards the lake. When she arrived at the lake and saw her reflection she gasped, tears immediately springing in her eyes.

No, no, no no no! This can't be happening!

The reflection of her fourteen year old self looked back at her. She had freckles and slightly crooked teeth, pigtails, and a Camp Beckwood t-shirt on. Every summer as a child she went to Camp Beckwood for summer camp. Generally the experience was okay; she liked the activities they did, especially the outdoor activities like rock-climbing and swimming, but she wasn't able to make a lot of friends due to kids teasing her about her weight and appearance. Her time there, for the most part, wasn't different than most kids' experiences at summer camp. This year, however, was the year of one of her worst traumas. She'd befriended a counselor, Ron, that she'd thought was nice to her because she was a bit of a loner. He talked to her when she was lonely and always made sure she was always included in activities with the other campers. It made her feel like at least one person at the camp was on her side.

One night she'd gone down to the lake in a teary mess. Now she couldn't even remember what she was upset with, it was probably about something mean one of her bunkmates had said. It was so pointless, but she'd cried a lot as a preteen about things that ultimately didn't mean very much. On this night Ron came down to comfort her and things took a….rough turn. Any second now he'd be coming down to 'talk' to her. She felt paralyzed next to the lake, unable to move. She tried with all her might to pull herself away from the lake, willing herself to move and run as far away as she could, but she was glued to the ground. The tears she'd been holding back began to fall as she realized what the toxin was going to replay for her.

A loud crunch of leaves and sticks breaking snapped her out of her thoughts. She looked behind her to see Ron walking over to her. He towered over her at 6'3, adding to his semi-intimidating presence. He was wearing his camp counselor uniform which made that intimidation factor lessen slightly, but her memories made her shake in fear. He jogged over to her and put his arm around her shoulders, making her cringe internally.

"Hey kid, are you feeling okay?" He questioned, a faux sense of sincerity in his voice.

Almost without thinking, her little voice squeaked out "Yes, I-I think I'm okay…."

No! I can't even speak! I can't say that, I need to get out of this!

Her heart pounded inside her chest as she felt like she was going to peel out of her skin, wrestling with herself as she couldn't change the scenario unfolding in front of her.

"You don't sound like you're okay, want to talk about it? You know I'm always here for you, right Delilah?" Ron asked, moving closer to her so his body was pressed against hers.

She inched away, looking up at him timidly.

"I-it's really nothing, just some mean things Jackie and Ashlynn said today, no big deal. Same old same old." She chuckled, looking down at her reflection. Her true thoughts screamed at her to run, but her body wouldn't move.

"Hey, whatever they said is meaningless. You're an awesome girl, you know what they say isn't true." Ron smiled, holding her tighter. Internally she shut down as she almost saw everything unfolding around her from a movie screen instead of actually living through it. Suddenly Ron bent down and kissed her, placing his arm around her waist. She saw her younger self freeze and try to push him away, but he just held her tighter against him. She screamed as loud as she could, but no sound came out.

Almost instantly the scene sped up before her eyes. The tree branches lengthened and trapped her young self with her attacker, preventing her from leaving. His kissing became more intense as her young self finally began to realize what was happening and tried to kick him. He slapped her harshly across the face, the sound echoing like lightning crackling through the sky.

"I'm the one friend you've had around here, count your blessings kid! I see the way you look at me and the other boys at camp, I know what you want! Normally guys like me don't go for chubby girls like you so consider yourself lucky." His voice boomed, the volume distorted, trapping her in a cage of her own panic.

She saw her younger self pinned underneath him, helpless to stop what was happening. She kept screaming over and over, willing her to do something, anything to make it stop, but she was powerless.

Weak. Defenseless. Worthless. Hopeless.

She felt a white hot pain searing across her whole body as if she was being dipped in fire, and her vision began to fade. The scene began to melt again and swirl into darkness as she screamed, her body burning in unbearable pain.

Before she could scream again she was engulfed in complete darkness, all feeling completely gone. She couldn't feel the fiery pain anymore, but she couldn't feel anything else either. The only thing she could feel was aching numbness. Tears gathered in her eyes but refused to fall, clouding her vision. From within the cloud stepped her former childhood best friend, Lily.

She and Lily had done everything together in their eight year long friendship, but Lily treated her terribly the entire time. She would tease her mercilessly for her weight, belittle her for every mistake she made, do vicious pranks to her, and start meaningless fights with her for any reason under the sun. They had a codependent relationship; for every good thing Lily would do for her she would do five more bad things, but Delilah was never strong enough to break away.

Lily stormed over to her and got in her face.

"Hey 'Lilah, maybe Troy would've gone out with you if you lost some weight! I've been working out a bit lately, not that I need to, maybe you can join me! And I've been bookmarking some awesome healthy recipes you should try! I mean, if you're really hungry that is, you probably shouldn't be eating too much though. We wouldn't want to make the bloating look worse." She spoke in a sweet, angelic voice with a wide smile on her face.

"Ya know, I'm glad you're so humble! It's good for people to remember their place and not go beyond that." She continued to taunt Delilah, old memories creeping into her mind.

"I think I wanna go out with Troy, what do you think? He's just soooo cute! I know you like him, but I mean, he's captain of the baseball team. Sorry sweetie, guys like that have a higher standard. I think we'd be such a good match, what do you think?"

Lily's nasty words swirled around in her head, repeating endlessly. Every second the voice got louder and louder. The words felt as if they were almost pressing her down, forcing her to press into herself. She crumpled to the ground, shaking as Lily's words erupted old wounds she'd thought were long closed.

"How dare you leave me! I don't care that you're going to college; how could you leave after everything we've been through?! We were there for each other's first kisses, we went to our first dances together, you were there when my mom died! And now you're leaving me? You're such an ungrateful bitch, did you know that? I hope you fail and come crawling back home! You won't succeed anyway, why would you think you would? You've always been so weak and helpless, just admit it! You won't last for two seconds in Gotham, you're worthless!"

Lily's voice erupted into ear-splitting screaming, creating a ringing in Delilah's ears.

"Stop, please stop! It isn't true, I'm not a bad friend! I'm not a bad person! I was a good friend to you, just please stop!" Delilah cried, tears pouring down her face. Lily's words got more and more harsh, changing into things the real Lily had never said to her.

"You're powerless. Weak. Defenseless. Worthless. Hopeless."

This phrase repeated over and over again, morphing from Lily's voice to a dark, almost demonic growl.

Suddenly the voice stopped. Delilah felt like the oppressive weight keeping her to the ground had lifted, so she stood up. She was once again surrounded in darkness with a sole spotlight shining on her. She whipped her head around rapidly, looking around for any other horrible memories to come back to haunt her, but saw nothing. She heard nothing, she felt nothing.

She finally began to feel a sense of relief. Her breathing regulated and her heart rate slowed, finally beginning to calm down. Before she could begin to walk she looked down into her hands and saw a handful of pills. The colors of the pills shined brightly in her eyes, glaring at her almost like flashlights.

Oh no. Please not this, please….

Her hand began to rise slowly to her face.

No, no, stop, I don't want this! I don't want it!

She pulled against the invisible force holding her hand, but nothing she could do could stop her hand from bringing the pills closer and closer to her. When she was twenty-one she'd overdosed on various pills while trying to commit suicide, and ever since then her biggest fear was becoming suicidal enough to try that again. That was the worst time in her entire life, making her feel like she was trapped in an inescapable, hopeless darkness. She'd worked very hard to not get to that point again, and being trapped in it was her worst nightmare.

Slowly her hand rose until it arrived close to her mouth. Her mouth felt like it was being forced open.

"No! No stop! Don't do it, you don't want to do it! You're better now, you've worked so hard, you don't want this! Please! Just stop it!" She screamed an ear-splitting scream, recoiling as she felt the pills slide down her throat. In an instant her vision began to fade in and out and her body felt weak. Tears trickled down her face as she sobbed, trying to scream more but her voice came out as a quiet whimper instead. She fell to the ground as she got dizzy, black spots popping up in her vision. She looked up and saw the spotlight begin to fade as well, everything soon disappearing into darkness.

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I swear to God Scarecrow, if she hates me after this we are done! Do you hear me?! I'll banish you completely, I'll do my research on my own, you will be annihilated!

"Oh relax! Everyone needs to face their fears. You know as much, Jonathan. Look at her, look at how her body's twitching, her heart's beating out of her chest, her pupils look like saucers. The only thing missing is that delicious scream…." Scarecrow spoke out loud.

Scarecrow and Jonathan watched Delilah as her body adjusted to the toxin. Strangely enough, she did not have the immediate, intense reaction to the toxin that most people had. Jonathan had to admit it was fascinating to see that reaction from her. He always knew she was a strong-willed person, but he still figured she would've had a typical reaction to the toxin. Most people erupted into paranoid speeches and terrified screams less than a minute after being injected with the toxin. The only people he'd ever known to have a delayed reaction to it were himself, Edward, and, now, Delilah. He needed to figure out why.

After fifteen minutes the biggest change they'd noticed was Delilah's body twitching more than normal and her beginning to mumble.

"Please, no, no, don't, stop, please…." Her voice called out softly, a heartbreaking sadness in her tone.

"Wow, this is just depressing. She isn't screaming, she isn't crying. She's just laying there, frozen. And that pitiful voice. I don't like it."

I don't either. I don't know what she's seeing in there but I don't like it.

Soon after tears began to stream down her face as she continued to mumble. Oddly enough Scarecrow actually felt a twinge of guilt for what the toxin must've been making her go through. He and Jonathan figured she would've had typical fears that people had; heights, spiders, darkness. Whatever she was dealing with was far too intense for their liking. After all these years of them both being curious about her fears they never expected it to be this….sad.

Suddenly Delilah pulled harshly against her restraints and screamed wildly.

"No! Stop it! Stop! I don't want this, I don't want it, stop! You don't want to do this, please!" She screamed, erupting into an ear-splitting scream.

Jonathan and Scarecrow were pulled out of their thoughts, staring at the disheveled woman in front of them. They could see her heart beating through her chest as if it was going to break through. A thick sheen of sweat appeared across her forehead as her face flushed. Jonathan's blood ran cold as Scarecrow giggled in delight.

"There it is, there's the scream I've longed to hear! Keep going, scream more for me!"

That's enough Scarecrow! Give her the antidote, at this rate she's going to have a heart attack!

"And why do you care about this one so much, hm? She's just another experiment! We've just gotten to the good part, we need to continue!"

No! We're ending this now! I don't want to hear another word of this! If you won't cooperate then I'll just do it myself.

Jonathan's body fell to the ground as he fought Scarecrow for control. The two minds whirled, Jonathan pushing past Scarecrow's influence. Jonathan strained past his subconscious, almost throwing Scarecrow back into the depths of his mind.

You're going soft, Jonny boy! This kid is destroying you, don't let that happen!

Scarecrow's influence gradually faded, Jonathan instantly springing to action. Delilah's piercing screams echoed through Jonathan's laboratory, hurting his ears even more now that he was in full control of his body. He scrambled to find the antidote to the toxin, cursing himself for letting Scarecrow do this to her. Jars of different liquids clashed against each other as he raced to find the antidote. A large white + covered one of the bottles, finally finding the antidote. He quickly filled a syringe with it and plunged it into her neck. Delilah's screams slowly died down as her eyes closed, the screaming finally ending. Jonathan let out a deep breath he didn't realize he was holding as he looked down on Delilah.

God, I hope she can forgive me for whatever the toxin put her through….