Disclaimer: Batman is owned by DC Comics and whoever else owns it. I in no way claim it as my own; I'm just borrowing. Any OCs are mine and the plot is also mine, except for anything from TDK.

A/N: Someone wanted to see more Jonathan/Scarecrow, so I worked it into this chapter.

However, I couldn't work in Jonathan/ScarecrowxChelsie/Crow interaction just yet according with where I'm going with the story. For more interaction between them, you'll have to wait for the third installment of the series. Or maybe the very end of this fic. I'm not sure about the placement of each piece yet as most of this is still stuck in my brain like a discarded toothpick.

Second thing I need to mention is that I'd like to credit MustLoveGreg with the term the Arkham inmate (once a henchman of Crow) named Jimmy uses in regards to Crow. He calls her "pretty, bitty bird girl." So, thank you, MustLoveGreg, for the cute term! I thought I'd throw it in as a little tribute to you for following the series so closely and giving so many reviews.

Third, this chapter's gonna rehash previous events from Jonathan and Scarecrow's points of view. They're gonna talk about how they got into the mess of being in love with Chelsie and Crow, and it shows from their points of view why they were so out of character at the time.

This chapter also explains why Chelsie seems like a dumbass, and yet Crane thinks she isn't. (And he's probably the only one who thinks that, possibly because he just loves her too much. Awww. Hidden fluff. I love it.)

It's also going to attempt to explain why Scarecrow is so insistently in love with her.

Lastly, someone said they wanted the series to end with Jonathan/Scarecrow and Chelsie/Crow together.

I've decided, in order to please everyone who either wants it to end up that way or have her with the Joker (and to please myself, mostly, because I'm so damned indecisive), that I'd write two endings so you can choose which pairing you like. (I'm guessing I'll label them as Epilogue Scarecrow version and Epilogue Joker Version respectively, and I'll post them both one after the other for your convenience.)

Of course, if that happens, you know there won't be a way to write about Crow after those two endings. It'll be the official end of the series. (By that time, I believe I'll want to move on to other things.)

So, I believe that's what I'm gonna do, just so ya know.

Also, I apologize that this chapter came out kind of short. I felt it was appropriate to leave off where I did.

With that out of the way, onward to the chapter! Tally-ho!

Queen Takes Pawn

by Syrenia

Chapter Four - How Point A Met Point B

Ever since Scarecrow's little temper tantrum in the rec. room, news on Chelsie/Crow was scarce for the duo to find because the result of Scarecrow's fit was a loss of rec. room privileges. His psychiatrist had been informed of what set Jonathan's alter ego off, Dr. Grayson issuing that letting them near the TV was not a good idea.

Needless to say, Scarecrow had been livid. And since Jonathan was just as perturbed, they decided to give the doctor his comeuppance.

With mere words, Jonathan manipulated Grayson who took off out of Arkham and, as they were informed days afterward, was later found dead in his home with a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head.

Everyone in Arkham, be it her patients with enough of a mind left to form coherent thoughts or her various staff members, concluded, if only among themselves, that that Crane had somehow driven Grayson to the unthinkable act. However, no one could prove anything, considering his sessions with Grayson had not been monitored.

Now, although they weren't allowed into the rec. room again, Jonathan/Scarecrow was still given the opportunity to mix with other patients in the cafeteria and in the courtyard.

On one day in the courtyard, he managed to get information that there was a new patient behind Arkham's walls. The man had been said to have worked for Crow, this taking the mutual interest of Jonathan and Scarecrow.

They managed to locate the ex-thug in the courtyard to their luck and went up to the brown-eyed, grey-haired man who was laden with more muscle than humanly required, bringing them to where there now were.

Jimmy Hallows looked up, lit cigarette drooping from his lips as he saw "Crazy Crane" headed his way.

Even as burly and fit as he was, he held well-deserved fear in regards to the ex-doctor.

He had heard from other inmates that Crane was Grayson's last appointment before the Arkham doc took off in the middle of the work day and was later found dead at home by suicide. Anyone with half a brain would be assured that whatever Crane had said in that last appointment must've driven Grayson over the edge.

Using words alone to make a guy off himself was some kind of deadly talent that poor Jimmy really didn't want to deal with, but how could he cower in front of the lanky, younger man?

Instead of turning into a frightened little ball, he took a long drag and steeled himself for the coming encounter.

Two feet from where the ex-thug named Jimmy was standing behind the courtyard bleachers that lie near the basketball court, Jonathan stopped.

Before he could make the point of his presence known, Jimmy spoke up.

"Ya lookin' f' news on ya li'l black bird, eh?" he questioned in a thick accent, pulling his cigarette from his mouth and tapping the ashes to the ground.

"'Ow 'bout we do a li'l trade-off, doc?" Jimmy suggested boldly with a wry smile, deciding not to give in to his fears - something of which he knew Crane would only be sickly satisfied by. "Ya on dat "good be'avior" list o' da week, so ya get me a pack o' cigarettes an' I'll give ya some inf'mation on ya pretty, bitty bird girl."

Jonathan's eyes narrowed, voice precise and crisp just like those of the doctors in Arkham, but also icy cold as he replied, "Mr. Hallows, I have neither the time nor patience for fetching you your cancer sticks. I suggest you give me the information I want now, or I will leave you with the advisement of keeping one eye open as you sleep."

Mr. Hallows bristled noticeably, not having expected to be threatened so quickly; apparently, to the ex-doctor, Crow was serious business.

The ex-thug returned the cancer stick to his mouth, "Fine, fine... Ya li'l birdy is playin' a dangerous game wit da clown."

"Every.. single.. day," he drawled out, pulling it from his lips and waving around the smoking cigarette, "those two kept on rockin' da casbah, if ya know what I mean."

To Crane's discomforted look, Jimmy gave a satisfied smirk.

After another drag, he looked away, "While da clown's out on business or sleepin' at 'is own place f' once, she's either bonkin' the thugs or bidin' 'er time... She's waitin' on ya t' bust outta Arkham an' take back ya li'l toxin business..."

"An', uh... I 'ear word she wants t' leave ya once ya get back," added the ex-thug, eyes lazily trailing back to Crane. "Aft' she's done wit da clown, she wants t' fly solo."

Jonathan took in all of the information, then questioned, "And what does Crow plan to do while 'solo'?"

Jimmy laughed, "Ya don't get it, do ya? ...She's already figured eeeeverythin' out."

The ex-doctor quirked a brow, adjusting his glasses with impatience, "What do you mean?"

Hallows looked off, countenance amused, "Da li'l black bird has an interest in da big, bad Bat. But she ain't gonna play games when it comes t' findin' out 'is secret identity, doc; she knows da only way t' cripple da Bat is t' find out 'is real identity an' 'old it over 'is 'ead."

With an incredulous look, Crane inquired, "You speak as though you believe she has a chance at finding out his daytime persona, Mr. Hallows."

Jimmy turned his brown eyes to the ex-doctor and offered a small shrug before giving his opinion on the matter, "She's got more o' a chance than da clown 'cause she knows how t' blend in, an' she's got more o' a chance than ya seein' as everybody knows who ya are."

"Ya follow da bird an' she might jus' figure out who da Bat is, doc," advised the ex-thug with a knowing look in his eyes. "Dat is, unless she figures it out too fast an' lets da clown have da name..."

"She's no fool; she gets da big picture," he assured, hand waving at the last words. "If she gives over da name t' da clown, she'll be breakin' Gotham's soul an' sellin' it t' da devil... Dat's an outcome she wouldn't mind 'avin'."

"I highly doubt that Crow, however intelligent she may be, will be capable of deducing a name for the caped crusader where others have surely tried and failed, Mr. Hallows," Jonathan replied with a small scowl, unable to find the same faith in Crow.

Jimmy shrugged once more, looking away, "Nobody believes me, but she's smarter than she lets on... Other people t'ink it's an impossible task, but Crow doesn't stop at impossible."

"Her first step," the grey-haired man added, "is t' meet da Bat."

"I believe I've heard everything I need to know, Mr. Hallows," said Jonathan, readjusting his frames on his nose before inclining his head slightly as a gesture of departure.

The ex-doctor turned around and took off to the other side of the courtyard.

'The man had a point, Doc; Crow's uniquely intelligent when it comes to this sort of endeavor,' Scarecrow asserted as they walked away.

'And how do you know that, Scarecrow?'

Scarecrow grinned inwardly, 'Crow's undoubtedly the half of Chelsie who liked guessing games; she always wanted to play twenty questions when she was bored... And, let's face it, Crow's the smarter half.'

'Chelsie is intelligent,' insisted the ex-doctor resolutely. 'She merely makes uniquely bad decisions out of a grandiose sense of apathy. In example, she failed to call the police when she found us as a normal woman would do without hesitation because she has no long-term sense of self-preservation.'

'She's also the only person whose apathetic nature would allow her to hold the unique view that our supposed insanity was "none of her business." And she's the only one who would continue to walk through a fog that she comprehends as giving her hallucinations,' he assessed her carefully as only a psychiatrist would be wont to do. 'The lack of self-preservation save in instances of momentary instinct is clearly evident and gives her the false appearance of being unintelligent.'

Scarecrow was skeptical as their shared body took a seat at a bench in their pathway.

'Give me an instance in which she's proven herself intelligent,' challenged the alter ego.

'Well, one case in point, it was undoubtedly Chelsie's half of the persona when she reasoned that life beside a criminal might not be well-suited to her,' Jonathan gave one example, then followed up with another. 'Also, it had to have been Chelsie who saw through my flattery when I attempted to have her remove the insipid boy and his lackeys from her apartment.'

Scarecrow mentally shrugged, 'I concede to that much; Crow would have been the first to volunteer as to the first example, and as to the second, Crow would have seen through your words, but would have reacted in a defiant and rude manner.'

'It seems we're always having these kinds of discussions about Chelsie and Crow now that we have so much free time to think,' pointed out the ex-doctor, looking around the courtyard and tugging at his ill-fitting Arkham uniform that was pale blue.

'What else is worth discussing?' Scarecrow questioned, looking through Jonathan's eyes at their surroundings. 'Other than watching the more chronically frightened patients, there's nothing else worthy of taking up our time.'

Jonathan sighed outwardly, then replied mentally, 'You have a point. But how did we manage to become so obsessed with her?'

'It was your fault for losing your memories and staying in her apartment for much too long,' accused his other half. 'And at the time, you were much less inhibited by the traits you gained long ago that helped to create me.'

Scarecrow sighed within their mind, 'But we were both in disarray as I should have forced you to leave when staying was no longer a necessity. I only remember thinking she was pretty and that I'd like to stick around to find out what really scared her. The former was completely out of character, but the need to frighten her specifically was understandable as it must have stemmed from her unexpected reaction to the toxin in the air.'

'And when I was fixated on her,' Jonathan carried on for him, 'you thought keeping the strange girl as a pet of sorts would be interesting, didn't you?'

With a laugh, Scarecrow answered, 'Yes, and I thought we could test our compound on her, but I never got around to it seeing as your unexpectedly lovey-dovey feelings got in the way...'

'But I found out what made her scared, and she was uniquely beautiful when frightened,' the alter ego carried on thoughtfully. 'I knew she would break and become something like us... And I had decided that since you loved her and I wanted to keep her, that she needed a half more suited to a criminal lifestyle. That was the only way she could remain comfortably beside us.'

'In your own twisted way, you were being considerate?' questioned Jonathan disbelievingly.

'If that helps you sleep at night, then yes.'

Sometimes - times like this - Jonathan wished Scarecrow was a separate entity so he could punch him in the face.

He pointed out, 'You haven't explained why you came to love them...'

'I'm a part of you; how could I not?' countered the Scarecrow simply. 'I was merely reluctant at first, but when she became like us, she was perfect... And when she used the name Crow, that was when I knew she was meant for us.'

The alter ego shrugged mentally, 'I was infatuated because Crow was the personification of their strength and fearlessness, both qualities deserving of our mutual admiration, and Chelsie was the small, fragile one who held their softness. Chelsie showed us that kindness, to which we would normally hold disdain, could be pleasing, and that it didn't always make us weak.'

'If we weren't so susceptible at the time,' began the ex-doctor, 'do you believe we would still have come to where we are now?'

'No,' Scarecrow answered without hesitation. 'I suppose we should attempt to thank Ms. Dawes for tasering us in the face, but she would likely call the police... And then Crow and Chelsie would be too ashamed to help us escape from Arkham again.'

'You still think they're going to come get us?' asked Jonathan incredulously.

'Actually, I'm assuming they'll allow themselves to be caught at some point so they can find out for themselves the reason we haven't already left,' Scarecrow gave his theory. 'They're both too curious to leave us for too long... The only thing delaying them now is the clown.'