A/n: I re-uploaded chapter five and six because of the quotation marks. A reviewer brought it to my attention that they were missing. They did because that's when I got my new netbook and the program was different. But I used a different program now and hopefully it fixes the problem. Sorry about that.

Chapter Five

I awoke to find myself in my bed with a bag of ice on my neck and cool cloth on my forehead. I removed both and looked around me. Nothing seemed wrong in my bedroom, that's when Jonathan walked in my room.

"How do you feel?" he asked in a business like way.

"A little groggy but that's probably because I just woke up. What happened to the intruders?" I asked remembering him spraying them with something.

"The police came and picked them up," he said taking the cloth and bag of ice.

"No, I meant what did you do to them? What was that spray?" I asked looking up at him. He towered over me as I sat there.

"It was just something I've been working on, but it isn't as strong as I hoped it would be," he said taking a seat next to me.

"What was it suppose to do? Because it seemed like it paralyzed them."

"It's suppose to make you see your worst fear. It's a toxin made from a flower and it only works if it is inhaled."

"That is really cool. I love that idea of using a person's fear as their strongest weakness."

"I thought you would. Now I'd like to take a look at your neck to see how it is," he said standing up and turning the light on before sitting back on the bed and titling my head back to expose my neck.

"Is it really bad? Because it would be weird for me to wear a scarf at work to cover it up."

"Take a look yourself," he said standing up and leading me to the bathroom. I turned the light on and looked in the mirror and sighed. There were very visible red, almost purple, marks around my neck.

"Lovely," I said poking at the bruises a bit.

"The redness might go away more if you keep an ice pack on it," said Jonathan handing me the bag of ice. I held it to my neck and leaned against the wall and looked at him.

"So, how was work?" I asked casually. He just raised an eyebrow before clearing his throat.

"I'll be by tomorrow after work to check and see how you are doing. Take it easy, and you might be a little sleepy because I gave you some pain medication. I suggest you go to sleep and have a short day of work tomorrow," he said walking out the bathroom and to the living room, I followed behind him.

"All right, see you tomorrow, thank you, and if you want help with that toxin, I'd be glad to help. I am trained in science after all," I said handing him his brief case with my free hand. He took it from me and stared at me for a while.

"I guess a second opinion wouldn't hurt. Good night," he said and left my apartment shutting the door, which I noticed was fixed. I looked around my apartment and saw that everything was straightened out. This was one nice neighbour, or he got really bored. Still I owed him a lot.

Too tired to shower now, I returned to my bedroom and changed into my pyjamas before climbing into bed. To make sure the bag stayed I tied a scarf on it loosely, not so that I get strangled again and put my head on my pillow. Before I knew it I was out like light bulb.

I woke up to the sound of my phone ringing. I reached over and grabbed it off my bedside table and his the power button.

"Hello?" I asked, or at least hoped it came out sounding correct.

"Katrina where are you?" came Rachel's voice.

"At my apartment," I said.

"Did you over sleep?" she asked.

"Yes, and no. I was told I had to cut my work day short, and I work better at night anyway so I'm going in after lunch. Oh and could you relay that to my workers? Thanks," I said.

"What did you do last night?" she asked as I heard her writing something down, probably my message to the workers.

"I was sleeping when two guys broke into my house and one started to strangle me. Then my neighbour came in like some superhero and saved me," I said.

"A superhero huh?" she asked.

"You don't think I'm cliché enough to use 'knight in shining amour' do you?"

"No, that phrase I don't think I'll ever hear you say. But this neighbour of yours is pretty helpful for you. That's good at least."

"I guess."

"Well I'll let you get your rest. Happy Friday, and good luck on the competition tomorrow," she said. I forgot about that, again.

"Bye," I said and hung up. I rubbed my face with my hands then got up and took a long hot shower. After I had some cereal for breakfast and watch a bit of TV. Finally deciding to head into work, I left my apartment and off to work. I stepped in the back and was immediately pushed to the front of the store by my assistant chef.

"What do you think you are doing?" I asked crossing my arms.

"I ran into Rachel and she told me what happened. You are not working today. You are going to go home and rest," she said.

"And that's an order," said the cashier, I really have to start remembering their names.

"You're ordering your boss around? Brave. I like it for now, fine, I give, but first you have to give me a slice of pumpkin pie before I leave," I said. They did as I asked and I walked out. I noticed it was just a little past noon and didn't feel like I wanted to go home just yet. So I took a little detour.

I walked up the menacing steps and through the front doors of Arkham Asylum. There was a main staircase leading to the upper floors and a reception desk at which sat a woman in a business suit.

"Can I help you?" she asked looking very bored. I would be bored too.

"Can you tell me where I can find Dr Crane's office?" I asked.

"Not unless I have his approval he knows you," she said grabbing the phone and dialling a three digit number and waited a bit. I looked around the area as I felt the woman watching me.

"Dr Crane there is a woman here to see you," said the receptionist, "what's your name?"

"Katrina Tassel," I said glancing at her before looking up a the staircase again.

"Yes, fine," she said before hanging up in an unhappy way and looking up at me, "second floor first door on the left."

"Thank you," I said before walking up the stairs and up to the door that said 'Director- Dr. J. Crane'. I knocked and entered when told to.

"I thought you'd be at work, Ms Tassel," he said looking up me while sitting at his desk. Looked like he was doing some paper work.

"Curiously enough when I got there I was forced to go home. So I came here," I said.

"Interesting. Please take a seat. Do your staff know what happened?" he asked returning to his paper work. I took a seat in one of the two chairs placed in front of his desk.

"Yes, which really isn't that surprising. Here I brought you something," I said placing the box on his desk but not on top of his paper work.

"Oh? You didn't have to," he said.

"In way, it doesn't compete to the fact that you kind of saved my life last night," I said nonchalantly and looked around his office before my eyes landed on his. He looked at me when I brought up last night.

"I guess," he said. He seemed to be thinking about something and then he took his glasses off and rubbed his eyes before replacing them and looking at me again. "Do you have any study in chemistry?" he asked out of the blue.

"Yes, mainly food chemistry but I have a basic understanding of it and I took a few courses in college. Why?" I asked not knowing where he was going with this.

"Follow me," he said and stood up straightening his jacket, tie, and sweater vest before leaving the office and I left my messenger bag on the chair before following behind him. We walked up to an elevator and he held the doors open for me to go in then followed behind me. He pulled out some keys and put one in the slot that said basement.

I didn't ask any questions as the elevator moved and we were transported to the lower levels. When the elevator doors opened I stepped out, followed by Jonathan and he led the way down a small corridor and came to a large room. We were standing on a balcony that looked down below at a bunch of pipes.

"Nice basement, not nearly as creepy as I thought it would be for an asylum," I stated looking at Jonathan.

"This is my lab," he said.

"One would think a lab would be more," I paused and looked around at all the grime on the walls, "sterile."

"One would think," he repeated before walking down the stairs into the area where there was a crate full of blue flowers and a table lined with experiments on it.

"So what are these flowers?" I asked picked one up.

"They are the main ingredient in my hallucinogen," he stated.

"Can I assume that they are illegally smuggled into Gotham?" I asked putting the flower back down.

"Smuggling alone is illegal," he said before walking to the other end of the table, "now what I want you to do is find a way for these to work to their full potential."

"And what do you hope that full potential is?" I said while looking at one flask that had one in it that was smoking.

"To make the victim go into full hallucination and see their worst fear. But so strong that they become insane," he said smirking.

"Sounds fun. Sure I'll try, not sure how I'll know when it's ready though. Do we have a test subject?"

"Yes, we do. One of Falcone's thugs came in today," he said, "well I shall leave you to it then. Just call me when you are finished." And with that he left the room. I turned and looked at the flowers and picked one up.

"Let's see what I can do with you," I said before getting to work.