Crane could see the malice behind the girl's eyes as she said matter-of-factly, "Under-aged. So it doesn't matter if I give my consent, it's still statutory rape."

Hmm. Interesting. Well, it didn't matter to him how old she was really. He was just trying to be polite before he experimented on her. So he chose to ignore the malicious jibe in favor of his research.

"While you were hallucinating, what did you see?" He queried.

She looked at him for a second, and then shook her head. "I think I have an answer to our 20 questions game. Wanna hear it?" A smile flittered across her lips. She knew exactly what she was doing, how suicidal it was.

How strange. But... He could work with this. "Answer my question. What did you hallucinate?"

"No. And my answer, dear Doctor, is psychopath. I ruled out mineral and vegetable pretty fast, and that just left psychopath."

Here her expression changed. What was once suicidal amusement now was bitter anger. There wasn't much fear but that was fine. Crane was currently studying the effects of anger on the toxin.

"So what are you going to do with me Crane? Gas me until my mind melts? Conduct insane, immoral experiments on me? Force me to feed you chocolate while you dance ballet to Bohemian Rhapsody?" She used sarcasm and ridicule to cover her fear and anger. It seemed to be a trigger to protect herself when she felt threatened.

Crane recognized the response; he had a form of it himself. This girl was interesting. Lots of anger to work with. And real anger, too - not anger caused by hormones. He would break this girl, and he would enjoy doing it.

Crane was silent again. She couldn't tell if he had found her comment amusing or if he was just beyond angry with her. He continued to stare at her, if stare was the right word. His look was more of a study except that his eyes weren't moving from hers. Weird.

Kay then realized the hypocrisy of what she was saying, seeing she was studying him to, trying to gauge a reaction. Crane took off his glasses, almost wearily. His next words surprised Kay. "Would you like to see my mask?" He reached for a drawer in the desk beside him.

"Would you like to untie me? Then maybe we can play dress up."

This surprised Crane. None of his victims were ever this cheeky. Especially not after seeing what his toxin could do. This one would be fun to break. If only she would say what she had hallucinated.

Reluctantly, he put his glasses back on. It would be better for his plans for her if he were polite now.

But all the same he had really looked forward to showing her his mask. Crane ran his hands through his already rumpled hair; a bad habit that he should break but never had time too. Crouching down behind the girl he went to work on the knots. As he stood up he noticed her hands close on the back of the chair.

A second later the chair crashed into his chest and he fell, yelping.

Kay took off running for the third time that night. Her reasoning was that Crane didn't know where she lived, so home would be the best place to be.

Then she remembered that the mob people were probably on the look-out for her there. That left her wondering how the hell she got into this shitty situation.

Fucking Gotham. How the hell did it get this dangerous? I mean, it practically breeds crazies. Kay thought as she ran.

Footsteps echoed behind her. She looked over her should expecting to see Crane chasing after her. What she saw surprised and horrified her.

"Oh shiiiiiit." Kay muttered. She hadn't counted on Crane having cronies.

These guys were smaller and faster than Leather Jacket. They caught up to Kay as she attempted to climb a fire escape. Screaming, biting, and kicking Kay wrestled against their hold.

"Shut up." The man Kay had already started thinking of as Goon #1 ordered in her ear.

Kay just yelled louder. "Come on, get'er up." Goon #1 said to Goon #2. The two men pulled her up and slammed her against the brick behind them. "Now seriously, shut up." #1 growled in Kay's ear again.

No change in volume from Kay. A slap across the face was silenced her momentarily. But instead of staying that way a furious glint came into her eyes. Now instead of just screaming she added words too. "HELP! I'M BEING KIDNAPPED BY A PSYCHOPATH AND HIS TWO MINIONS! HEEELP! SOMEONE! HELP!" T

his time a punch in the gut combined with a slap to the temple was enough to shut her up. Just when he thought she'd given up and would come quietly Kay refused to use her legs. The two goons dragged her the block back to Crane's place.

"At least now the bitch is silent." Goon # 2 mused.

Please review! Much to love to all. And sorry this chapter was on the shorter side. -Archaic