Two-Face started to laugh. Batman didn't understand how the situation could be funny. Having Mayor Hill dangling over a vat of acid, was in no way shape or form funny.
"I've gotten this far Batman, do you really think I'm going to give it up. But there is more time for that later; I've only been given instructions to give you a riddle from Riddler." Then he muttered to himself.
"Just give me the riddle Two-Face."
Two-Face pulled out a piece of paper and handed it to Batman. Batman unfolded the paper and looked at the riddle.
"Have you both forgotten about me?" Hill said with fear in his voice.
"Quiet."
"Doctor and patient, rolls reversed. Will the Master of Fear take fear to new lengths?"
After reading the paper, he folded it back up and placed it in his belt.
"I don't have much time for this Two-Face. Give up easily and this can be resolved peacefully."
Two-Face pulled out another gun. He really wasn't going to make this easy.
"If that's the way you want to play it." Batman dropped a smoke pellet and disappeared into the smoke.
"Don't think you're going to get away from me Bats, I still have the Mayor and you don't want to risk losing him do you?" Two-Face was stepping into the smoke, he knew Batman wasn't there, but it was safer than standing out in the open.
"I know you're there Batman." He started to fire randomly into the air in hopes of hitting the man in the shadows. "I still..." the smoke has cleared and the Mayor was no longer hanging over the acid. "What the... "
Batman slammed into Two-Face from above and knocked him out cold. He slapped the cuffs on him and left him at the GCPD; he still had to more people to save and was running out of time.
"Now, tell me Doctor, what do you see now?" Scarecrow sprayed the kind Doctor in the face with a gas, and watched on as his victims face changed and it was clear that the gas was taking effect and it was working.
"Ah, help, please, get the spiders off me. No, I can't take the spiders. HELP?!"
"It is evident that patient Arkham suffers from an acute form of acrophobia."
Doctor Arkham was starting to sway a little. The board underneath his feet began to move.
"I wouldn't do that if I were you Doctor. The board you are standing on can barely hold your weight as is. I'm sure putting more strain on in might cause it to break and the tight rope around your neck might be a slight problem." Scarecrow wasn't even looking at the Doctor. He was playing around with some chemicals in hopes of tweaking his fear gas in time for Batman to get there.
Batman was racing against the clock to get to Scarecrows hideout before it was too late. Batman was cross referencing all of Scarecrows last hideouts and if any where located near hardware stores. Three come up. Batman looked down at the screen. They were all within a half a mile of a hardware store. But one stood out the most. One was a little local store. Not one of the branches of a bigger corporation. Bingo.
Scarecrow was looking at his monitors that were hooked up to the surveillance cameras all around his hideout. He saw Batman pull up and his expression changed from that of boredom to that of sheer pleasure. He could not wait to spar Batman with his latest toxin. But when he looked back at the monitor where Batman had been less than a second ago he was no longer there. Then suddenly, the camera stopped working. Again it happened. Within a blink of an eye, all of the surveillance cameras were malfunctioning. Batman planned to sneak up on him.
"You don't frighten me Batman." He said with a quiver in his voice. After all these years of fighting Batman, he's never admitted that he had chiroptophobia (fear of Bats) and he wasn't about to let a man dressed as a Bat frighten him. Not the Master of Fear.
Batman was looking down on Crane from up in the support beams of the roof. He then turned his attention to Dr Arkham who was obviously still suffering from the gas that Crane had sprayed on him since taking him captive.
"I know you're up there Batman." Bluffed Crane, he didn't know where Batman was, but he hoped to eliminate the one hiding spot first.
Batman jumped down from the beams and landed between Scarecrow and Dr Arkham. With a swish of his cape, he threw three Batarangs at Scarecrow's feet. This was the first on only warning shot.
"Ah, Batman, the only man I know who clearly suffers from atychiphobia, the fear of Failure."Scarecrow taunted.
"Crane, I really do not have time for this. Either give up easily, give me the next clue and you go back to Arkham still in one piece. Make it hard, I hope you like eating through a straw." Batman was irritated. He had no intention of playing fair tonight.
Scarecrow just laughed.
Batman pulled out a special type of bat-a-rang this time. He knew Scarecrow would see this one coming, and that was the point. He targeted Scarecrow's head and watched at he narrowly avoided being hit, then before he knew what was happening, it came back and hit him on the back of the head and Batman went in for the knockout punch. Scarecrow's head made a loud smacking noise as he feel onto the floor. He was out cold and with the amount of blood coming out of his head; he was going to be out for a while.
Batman realised the doctor and laid him out on floor. There was rope burn on his neck, but noting too serious. He then injected him with something to help the doctor relax. Then Batman turned his attention to his unconscious foe. He searched his pockets looking for the next clue. Unfortunately it wasn't that simple. So he looked in Doctor Arkham's pockets, maybe it was there. After giving it a passing thought, he looked on the table where the chemicals were and there it was;
"She's always been a thorn in your side. Will this make for breaking news?"
"Ivy".
There was only one place that Ivy would use as her hideout at this time of year; the now defunct Zoo Gardens. When Batman pulled up at the front gate, he was surprised not to see any form of security guard or hired goon. The gate was unlocked so he pushed it open. It was rusted and made that horror movie squeak. Waiting for the plants to come to life and attack, he kept an ice pellets at the ready. But he made it through the entire garden to the glasshouse without being attacked, something was wrong.
"Enter through the main door Batman. It's open." Ivy said over the loud speaker. He knew it was a trap, but it had never stopped him before.
Going in through the main door, he saw Ivy sitting on her plant thrown with Vicky Vale sitting next to her. Not in any danger. Vale looked calm and unscathed. Something was up.
"Run along dear" blowing Vicky a kiss and letting her get down off the thrown to Batman. "I did not kidnap her Batman. I just kept her safe from Riddler's plan. Unfortunately he used that against me." Ivy said.
"Why is it that I don't believe you Ivy?" Batman said looking at her directly in her green eyes. Something that reminded him of Susan Maguire, the woman Ivy had made to make Bruce Wayne fall in love with her; all those green eyes.
"I've done nothing wrong. I broke out of Arkham to save Vale." She could see Batman wasn't buying it and was planning to attack. "I give you Vale and I go back to Arkham." She picked up her Wild Thorny Rose in its pot and stepped off her thrown. She didn't want to fight. Not when they were in a place that was surrounded in her babies.
When the police finally showed up, Vale handed Batman the next clue as they both watched Ivy get into the back of the squad car.
"She didn't hurt me Batman. She really did save me." Vicky said.
Batman didn't listen. He unfolded the paper to read the riddle.
"Will all this electro shock therapy have him enrolled at the Laughing Academy?"
Batman hopped into that Bat mobile and drove into the heart of Gotham. He didn't know where Joker was planning on holding his cook-off, but it would be somewhere everyone could see it. Then the onboard computer started beeping.
"Sorry it interrupt you sir, but this seems rather important." Alfred interrupted.
"Go ahead."
"Welcome Gotham to the first annual Commissioner cook-off. Here's your host, THE JOKER." Joker had pirated all the airways on Gotham and was planning on broadcasting killing Gordon for everyone to see.
The camera panned over to Commissioner Gordon sitting in an electric chair, which looked an awful lot like the one Joker had Batman strapped to a few years ago.
"For some of you who remember my last cook-off, this is similar to the chair Batman sat in, except with a few changes." He giggled and looked straight down the barrel of the camera. "Instead of being powered by laughter, it's powered by..." he made a fake fanfare sound with his mouth, but then the transmission cut for a second. "Did you really think I was going to announce it on air? You must be crazy. Either way, if you're watching this, you must be. Light her up boys." Joker called to his men that were standing by a large switch.
Gordon started writhing in pain, and pulling against his bonds. It clearly wasn't an act. Joker was really planning on killing Gordon.
"From the look on the old man's face, I'd say Batman has less than five minutes to get here to save him." Joker broke down in a fit of laughter.
To Be Continued...