I is not dead! I've been stressing over how to do this chapter and how to finish up Scarecrow, but as I've probably stated before, I have trouble doing fight scenes. So I'm sorry to those who wanted a fight, I didn't put one in. Not on screen at least. Now I've got a question for you, but I'll hold it until the end. Hope you like how they handle this one! And I certainly hope I've got the day right on the chapter. That's one thing I've lost track on with this story. What day are they on again? Wednesday right? =/ Oh well. Enjoy! I'm having fun with Doctors! =D

Ch. 26 - Ending Fear

"Why did you make them junior reporters?" Artemis glanced over to Batman before looking back to the parking lot below. The dark knight hid a smirk, keeping his eyes and ears open instead of answering.

So far he'd seen hundreds of socialites and do-gooders, but none who'd care if Bruce Wayne was there. He was off the hook this time, and grateful for it. He didn't want to see the movie anyway. What he wanted to see was Scarecrow behind bars before the night was through. But where was he?

"Well?" The archer didn't seem to understand the need for silence while on a stakeout. Neither did Robin in all honesty, but he could be discrete when the time called for it.

Batman rolled his eyes before explaining the obvious. "No one questions why reporters are at an event. Keep your eyes peeled. Scarecrow likes to watch his work."

"Sick puppy." She looked back over the crowd lining up to get inside, trying not to feel bored. "Why does he do this? Make people scared for no real reason."

"Phobophilia. The love of fear." He looked towards the back of the building, hoping to see something. Damn it was cold. Didn't she read the review about this criminal? "Crane studied phobias professionally at the university, but his funding was cut when students reported his dangerous experiments. He's continued them on the general populace since. To him, this is just an experiment. He doesn't care if people are hurt or suffer permanent psychological damage. He just wants to see the effects.

"To him fear is power, and he will do everything he can to control it." Inwardly he hoped this would be enough information to silence the girl. He needed to concentrate on the matter at hand. How would Crane strike? Had he already? Did he have a trap set up? It was only luck he connected the dots at all. When he was processing the lab they found the previous day, there was a flyer for this event, and a set of blueprints of the building, both burnt. Alfred hunted half the day on the computer for a match. Thank heavens for silly people putting those flyers on facebook.

Still presented the problem of finding out how he was distributing the gas. He already looked over the air vents for tampering and put sensors near them to warn them about any movements there. Same with the place's water supply, but honestly he doubted Crane would use such a slow method. Unless he already changed the light bulbs and rigged them to explode at one time or another, there were very few options left. When was the madman going to appear?

"So how is he going to watch it?" Artemis' question was quite valid, sparking an idea in the dark knight's mind. "Is he... like on a rooftop? In a surveillance van? Part of the crowd? How do you think he's gonna-"

"Superboy, use your infra-vision and check the service rooms. Miss Martian, mentally gloss over the vans outside. Report anything out of the ordinary." The look he gained from the archer only made the orders more urgent in the Bat's mind. Rooftops were too obvious, especially for this. Mingling with the crowd wouldn't be too difficult, but Crane and any accomplices needed to explain their added items, whatever they were.

"Got it." "Anything specific?"

"People who are overly anxious or too calm."

"You think he's already here?" The archer didn't like being cut out of the action. Well hopefully neither of them would be needed. Keeping it covert was necessary in order for order to be maintained. Crane on his own wasn't dangerous, a twig really, but his concoctions were. Martians and Kryptonians though had a higher resistance to them. They should be able to handle whatever came their way.

"Count on it."

They waited in silence for a few minutes before any response came from the other two inside. "I think I see something in the electrical closet. There's a lot of security around, I don't know if I can get to it."

"There shouldn't be any security there."

"Ah great."

"Miss Martian, verify-"

"On it." An anxious moment passed in silence, followed by a frustrated sigh. "The majority of the guards are off duty police officers of former military. The ones near the electrical room and towards the catwalks are harder to read. Clouded, like they're-"

"Drugged."

"Really aggressive emotions too. Like Kaldur earlier."

"Ding ding ding! We have a winner." Artemis whipped an arrow out of her quiver, ready to leap in and start fighting within a second. "Let's get this guy and call it a night."

"Stand down Artemis. Crane wouldn't be on his drug." Batman narrowed his gaze around the building again. Guarding electrical and catwalks? "They're the hired help, and don't realize they've been had. Number and positions."

"Two at the electrical room, two next to the walk access, and one guarding that hallway."

"There's someone up above too," Conner reported. "Someone's moving up there at least. The lights are making it hard to see how many for certain."

"You two take care of the ground troops. Quietly. We're headed south." The dark knight spun away from the roof's edge and towards their access to the walkways just below them.

"How do you take out security guards quietly?" their archer wondered out loud.

Batman didn't even acknowledge that one with an answer. Scarecrow was either in the crowd below or on the skywalks. Either way, they were going to stop him before he drove the people into chaos.

Megan had no problem sneaking up on the two men guarding the electrical room. The problem was trying to knock them out before they went postal on everyone. In the bioship, Batman gave them several ready-made injections of the compound used on Kaldur during his rampage. They weren't going to cure anyone, but it would stop them until the cure was available. Last they knew, her uncle and Flash were still working on the antitoxin. Hopefully it'd be ready when they bagged this crook and his goons.

So instead of getting close enough to focus a brain blast on the two (the berserker drug made it near impossible to break through mentally without serious damage), she entered camouflage mode, floated up between them, then jabbed both their necks with Batman's homemade generic knockout-antitoxin. Both large men made quick jerks of pain and cried out, but it was minimal over the loud din and her telekinesis stopped them from making any huge motions. Keeping them still until they passed completely out kept any possible onlookers from making any connections until it was too late. Within a few minutes, both of them were sitting on the ground, out cold.

Breathing out a sigh, the Martian started searching for a key to the room they were guarding. "Electrical room secured. Checking on hostages momentarily."

"Be aware; Crane tests his toxins on everyone." Batman's warning came just in time for the young woman. As soon as she had the key, she unlocked the door to see how the occupants were doing, she felt sick.

Locked away were seven men in varying uniforms; most of them were security, but one was general maintenance and the other management. All of them were bound, gagged, and unconscious in the worst ways possible. They clearly struggled against their bonds, only for their wrists to be rubbed raw. Their gags were red with blood stains, some brown appearing now and again. And their eyes were open, rolled back into the back of their head. Veins were pulsing even now and their bodies shook and twitched involuntarily. Was this what happened to people who let the toxin take over?

Still shaken, Miss Martian pressed her com to make sure everyone was aware. "Guys, we may have a medical emergency. How long until we get that antitoxin here?"

"An ambulance and medical team is already on its way to the side entrance."

"When did you-"

"Focus on the mission." A bit perturbed, M'gann shifted into the normal light spectrum and started looking around the room. Couldn't that man explain things more often? They only had so much to work with and... Looking around, she didn't know what was off, but something certainly was. She needed to look at maintenance rooms more often.

Despite her inexperience, it became painfully obvious what was tampered with pretty quickly. A strange gizmo was attached to a series of wires and breakers, with a ticking digital clock counting downwards from thirty-four minutes and some twenty seconds. This was worse than those bombs before. That at least she could chuck into space. This though...

"He's using something in the building's electric grid," she reported quickly. "We've got a little over thirty minutes before something happens."

"Thirty minutes. Plenty of time." Artemis' confidence was reinforced with a snap of her bow.

"Ladder to the catwalks cleared," Superboy informed them. "I found a bag of bulbs just inside the door."

"Spares?"

"Crane needed more time to switch them out." Batman cut them off before they could socialize. "Artemis, cover the exit. Superboy, the lower level. Miss Martian, how many are in the closet?"

"Seven," she informed him easily. "Mostly guards."

"The others?"

"Um.,." She looked back to the men on the ground. "I think one's a janitor and the other a manager."

"Leave the door open for the medical team and rejoin the crowd. Keep your eyes and ears open for someone in either uniform who matches Crane's likeness." They could hear him punch someone in the face over the line.

"You think he-"

"At this point, anything's possible."

Taking the subtle hint, Megan changed back into her civilian guise and mingled with the crowd. Batman really didn't know everything after all. She could hear him and Artemis fighting someone upstairs over the com, but not a lot. For some reason she felt a little jibed being on the ground floor like this. Still, this was her job, and she was going to do it well.

As she searched the crowd for any sign of the mastermind behind this, she listened intently to the others talking on the other end. Mostly a lot of thumping, rustling, and grunting. Occasionally there were some choice curses, but far and few between. Eventually even those stopped.

"That all of them?"

"Looks it."

"But... no one's come at me at all."

"Clear down here too." Superboy seemed just as disgruntled as she was.

"We need to remove the contaminated bulbs," Batman reminded them quickly. "Superboy, stay at your post. Miss Martian may need assistance. Artemis, start on the left. Remove all the LED and PAR lights at the moment."

"The what and the what?"

They could almost hear the man sighing his disappointment. "They're the large ones shaped as cones with flat or rounded glass covering the end. Non colored lenses."

"This is going to burn and blind me won't it."

"Better than hundreds of rampaging people ending in catatonia." This shut the archer up entirely, setting herself up to work once again. Conversation pretty much died over the coms, forcing Megan to focus on looking at the crowd and the people on the sidelines.

Scarecrow was there somewhere right? If she were a fear crazy ex-teacher, where would she position herself to watch the show? Well, the box office would be ideal but-

"OW! Watch it skinny!"

With a snap, the Martian jerked her gaze towards the sound, instantly spotting the person she was looking for. Ironically, it wasn't one of those participating in the fight, but the manager standing nearby who should have been breaking it up who caught her eye. Professor Crane was just watching with interest, pressing his glasses up so he could watch it better. A large messenger bag was slung over his shoulder and he seemed quite amused by the situation.

"Eyes on Scarecrow," she informed her squad quietly. "Conner, I'm going to need your help grabbing him."

"On it. Just tell me what to do." She could hear the clone leaving his post to join her in the main lobby almost instantly.

"How about I just show you what I'm planning."

"Works for me." What she had planned was sent to him mentally and she could feel him grin. "Looks good. May want to-"

"Already on it." Quickly Megan changed a few facial features and took one of the free drinks being passed around from a caterer. Getting over to Dr. Crane took a lot longer than she anticipated due to the crowd, but she managed to get two feet from him without anyone in the way just seconds before Conner came into view.

Then she tripped. "AAHH!"

Her sparkling cider flew out of her hand and onto the man's suit just before the made bodily contact with him, practically tackling him to the ground. Several people stepped out of the way and at least one person took a picture. Crane was not happy. "What the he-"

"I'm so sorry!" Megan fumbled as she tried repeatedly to get back on her feet. "I didn't mean to grab you! Oh no! Your suit! I ruined your suit! I- AH!" She fell over once again, frustrating the man. "Sorry! Just gimme a- Sorry! I'm so sorry! I'm such a klutz..."

"Just get off me little girl!" The wiry man wasn't easy to get away from, even when she wasn't making it difficult. She really did need Conner's help getting up, especially after palming the secondary control for the device she found earlier. Scanning his mind, she found out about his plan in case Batman arrived and spoiled things. With that now out of the way, all that was left was apprehending the psychopath.

"Sorry!"

"Megan! There you are!" Conner came up behind her and helped her to her feet. "Should have known I'd be rescuing you from a fall. You really need to pay attention to where you're going."

"Sorry..."

"Here. Let me help you up sir." Not waiting for a response, the clone reached down and pulled the man to his feet, keeping a firm grip on him.

"Let go of me!" growled the scientist.

"Ah man! You're a mess!" Conner made a big show out of being worried for his clothes. "That's just..."

"Sorry. I messed up." Megan put up her best self-disappointed face possible to make her look more like a victim here. "Here! I'll help you get cleaned up!"

"That won't be-"

"That's gonna stain," she insisted, "and stick. I gotta clean it out. Please? It'll just take a minute."

"I don't have-" Ignoring his protests, the girl took hold of his arm and started dragging him towards the bathrooms. "Get your hands off me!"

"Please! I feel really bad about this!"

"You may as well just let her," Conner put in. "She's not going to stop."

"But I-"

The lad took his other arm and helped drag him along. "Just come on. It'll be faster this way."

The crowd around them lost interest easily after that point, some getting out of their way to end the drama. Crane protested the entire way while the teens kept insisting like any other concerned person. It wasn't long until they were out of the crowd and only a minute more before Superboy opened his jacket and Miss Martian turned a little green, leading him towards the now unguarded catwalk/roof access. The kryptonian crushed the second trigger in his hand before his eyes.

"Hello Mr. Crane."

A/N: Whew! That's done. I loved that M'gann and Conner were the ones handling the ground floor and the inside joke Bats did with their covers (since Clark is a reporter, he made Conner one too!). I though the ending was rather weak, but I really want to end this soon so I only stress out about Fixing Damian (which I've started working on again thank you very much. it's just harder to do their fluff when I have another story loaded with Dami and Timmy fluff). So! The question is: should I have the team put Joker in prison or not? It'll take longer, but since they already took on Joker before, it would correlate with Without Me fine, it shouldn't be too impossible to just move along to Robin's extraction.

So what do you think? Should we just move on to thursday and get Robin home? Or tie up all loose ends, put Joker behind bars (which may take months), then get Robin home? It's been so long I'm not sure how I'd catch the joker in such a short amount of time anyway so I'm open to suggestions this once. Plus, tell me if I am right with the timing and all. And what you think. I'm trying to get this guy done at long last.