jacksparrowlovesme - A bored Ivy is a dangerous Ivy, that's for certain. I love writing her though, especially when she's bored and being a complete bitch.

Guest - You're very welcome! Kind excitement to see my updates are the best! I hope you have a wonderful day, my friend!

DawnieJDC - You're not the only one to express their interest in a Crane/Selina (ScaredyCat as we call them on tumblr) pairing. Hence this chapter. Also, you can blame certain bad, bad, terrible bad influences over on tumblr for this pairing. You know you who are...

LittleGreyOwl - Firefly will appear, but right now he's kind of out of commission, but he will come back. I promise. I have plans for him. Plus, I love him too much. He needs more.

Emdu - we'll see

Chapter Eighteen: The Sinister Urge

**Crane**

"How does it fit?"

Feeling so many pairs of greasy eyes on him, Crane scowled even deeper and flexed in the suit Jervis had sewn for him.

"I'm dying from the humidity of my own sweat and I can smell my own breath in this mask," he growled.

"If you'd brush your teeth once in a while…" Ivy began.

"Tell me, Selina, what is the appeal of black latex and vinyl?" He demanded, turning to Catwoman, pointedly ignoring Ivy.

"Try this," she suggested, lunging forward and throwing her arms up.

He quirked a brow at her, but attempted the lunge. It seemed to shift the suit into all the right places and he smirked. It became almost comfortable, like a second skin. "Ah, there we are."

"Nice, isn't it?" She asked, circling him.

Crane stuck his pelvis out and hid his ass with his hands as she moved behind him, still eyeing his form.

"You're so scrawny," Ivy groaned. "I can see your ribs…"

"Then don't look," Crane ordered, hand moving now to shield his private place from Ivy's eyes.

"I can't not look," she went on. "It's like a freakshow…"

"Uncomfortable, Crane?" Edward teased, hand on his chin.

Feeling, once more, under the greasy gaze of all their eyes, Crane became quickly agitated. "You should all be grateful I'm doing this! Stop…just stop looking at me."

"You look good," Edward finished.

Crane quirked a brow at the tone of the Riddler's voice, but decided to let it slip.

"Mm, he looks great," Selina purred.

Behind the mask, Crane pursed his lips and frowned.

"Okay, so…here's the plan—"

Holding up his hand, Crane, "ah, I'm sure I've got it. Selina is bait, I slip in and pretend I'm a mindless drone. Get some details and get out."

"Yeah," Edward said sarcastically. "Simple. Good luck then."

"I don't know…" Ivy said. "He doesn't have the body of a thug. He could be a stick insect, but I'm not buying this physical threat he's supposed to be giving off."

"I'm off!" Crane replied. "The sooner I get out there, the quicker I get away from her."

"Where's the love, Jonny?" Pam inquired, folding her arms.

"Good luck," Jervis cooed gently, hands clasping together before him.

"Luck," Crane grumbled to himself on his way up the stairs.

Outside as they stalked through the woods, Crane sighed heavily. "Are you sure you can handle yourself with them?"

Selina was quiet for a moment, before she made a small sound in her throat. "If I can't then it's no loss."

Crane's eyebrow jumped in surprise at her resignation. It unsettled him a little.

The night around them was cool and humid, foretelling rain, reminding them of the light drizzle they had all day. Above them the stars were partially hidden by the clouds, the rest were obscured by the trees overhead.

"Is this self punishment?" He demanded. "This lack of interest in living?"

"For what?" She asked.

"Firefly."

Selina was quiet again, causing Crane to halt in his journey and turn to eye her fully.

"No," she said. "We are each responsible for our own lives."

"You two were close."

She scoffed. "No."

"You were. People don't need to spend time together to get each other."

"Is that your professional opinion, Professor?"

Crane was stubbornly silent, arms crossing. "You have abandonment issues."

She laughed loudly at him, the 'ha' ringing off the trees. "The only issues I have, Doctor Crane, is some unresolved sexual tension and a need to fill my life with things."

"Interesting," Crane drawled. "Anyone I know?" He knew she had something strange with Edward, but this confession, one he assumed she was making on what she believed to be her deathbed, was perfection to him. It meant she was scared. It meant that deep down she knew she was walking to the gallows.

That fear smelled like heaven in his nostrils and he felt his heart speed up, getting high off her like pheromones to a sexual beast.

"Whoa," she murmured. "Easy big boy."

Not realizing how close he had stepped in order to feed off her fear, Crane shook himself back to his senses and angled his head, refusing to budge from his spot two inches from her. "I'm just getting a better read on that look in your eyes."

Unable to back down herself, Selina angled her face up towards him, eyes wide. "Drink it all in, Jon." She whispered.

Under the half hidden moon, with the sounds of the wind whispering through dead branches of old, gnarled oaks, Crane found his dark side almost put into some kind of trace as he gazed down at her beautiful violet eyes.

Not usually one lead by his dick, he hesitated at the thought that he found her utterly enthralling at that moment, in the dark and the somewhat spooky setting. But this black cat, this vicious she-kitty with her claws and her whip interested him.

Maybe it was his own fear of death that he was smelling, maybe it was that heady feeling that was moving his hand up to brush long fingers under her chin, tilting her head back just enough for him to loom over her completely.

"What do you see?" She asked him, breath fanning hot against the exposed flesh of his high cheekbones.

What the hell, he figured. He was going to die, he may as well see what she kissed like.

Tugging his mask down quickly, he dipped his head low, and pressed his mouth to hers almost experimentally, expecting her to kick or slap him.

What he wasn't expecting at all was for her to duck away almost playfully and smile at him. "Must have liked what you saw."

For the first time in years he was embarrassed. Like a goddamn teenage boy trying to hide an erection, he sunk in on himself a little trying to hide his shame, pulling his mask back up.

With her hand on her hip and a vicious gleam in her eye, Selina chuckled a little. "Did you think because we both might die that I'd be receptive to…what?"

Replacing his shame with anger felt more natural to Crane and he scowled deep beneath his mask.

"Little presumptive of you," she went on.

"Just wanted to—"

"I'm not done, Crane," she snapped. "Where the hell do you get off just kissing me like that?! Didn't you ever hear of permission?"

Again he tried to snarl something at her in the hopes of changing the balance of power back to him.

Again she cut him off.

"Did you have an ending planned for that kiss?" She demanded. "Were we just going to fuck here in the woods like animals?"

"I was thinking against a tree," he finally managed to growl out.

"Okay," she stated.

It was said so simply that Crane faltered momentarily, his tongue still geared up for rage and anger that he had to physically bite the inside of his cheek to quell it.

"But we'll have to be fast, I don't want to get caught with my tits out," she replied.

Crane's sharp mind still needed a minute to process what was happening, before he changed from anger and confusion to a less threatening mood. He wasn't sure what it was yet, but it wasn't violent or out of control.

"Did Firefly get this same deal?" He inquired.

"Boy you know how to romance a girl," Selina murmured, slowly unzipping her catsuit. "Will we be talking genocide while you have me against this tree or…?"

Suddenly it dawned on him. "You're fucking with me."

She smiled secretively. "Not entirely. But we have a job to do…" he watched her as she played with her zipper for a moment, before she zipped up again.

"But if we both live," she added, walking away. "I'm willing to discuss a three-way option…"

Crane smirked darkly, before the brain registered what she said. Three-way?

The plan wasn't great. They didn't have much to go on anyways, but he didn't like it. Not only because of the risk, but the fact that they were stumbling around Gotham blind.

Selina had said that she'd wander the alleys alone, for him to remain up high and in the shadows as best he could until the ones after them took the bait, but it was hard for him to keep track of her from rooftops.

It was a miracle that the Batman managed to get anything done haunting the roofs of Gotham as he was.

About to signal for her to stop, he spied movement below and ducked down behind a ledge.

Peering over the ledge at the alley and Selina below, he watched nervously as a figure stepped out from the shadows and moved up behind her.

But there was only one figure and he was massive.

Crane scowled.

Batman.

Just the site of the man turned Crane sour. Individuals who expressed such a clear superiority complex just rubbed him wrong. What did Batman have that made him better than he?

Wondering if he should join them in the alley, Crane decided it would be best to just wait and see. At least Batman was relatively harmless to Selina at this moment. And if rumors were to be believed in the Gotham underground, Selina had nothing to worry about from the Bat.

Below him the two had words, Selina clearly trying to chase the Bat off with the cold way she held herself and Crane almost toyed with the idea of dropping in and playing rescuer to her, but he also knew that Batman wasn't one to simply be chased off and it was more trouble than it was worth with his leg already aching and protesting from overuse.

About to ease back against a rooftop stairwell exit, Crane stopped short at the sight of shadows moving on the rooftop opposite him.

He dropped down again and remained still.

After a beat, he moved to the ledge of the rooftop and peered down, finding Batman and Selina both occupied with chatting below.

The shadows he saw were no where in sight and Crane frowned.

The crunching on the gravel of the rooftop just behind him had him rolling onto his back and then tumbling even further away as something came smashing down against the area he just vacated.

Jumping to his feet, feeling his leg give in a painful way, he took off running knowing someone was on his ass.

Skidding over the gravel he scooped up a rake as he passed it, resting against a chimney and turned to give as good as he was about to get, only to find nothing behind him. The roof was empty.

Quirking a brow at the shadows and the shapes of the dark rooftop, Crane welded his rake like it was his scythe and prepared to go down fighting. He didn't know how they saw him, but he figured they were just damned good at what they did.

Something flew at him out of the darkness and he swung his rake like a bat, smacking it back in the direction it came.

Suddenly a large form was flying past him and a black cape whipped Crane in the face, blinding him momentarily as Batman shoved him down hard.

Scrambling to get back to his feet, Crane found the Bat in the shadows already fighting with his pursuers.

Great. He was being saved by Batman.

He prayed for a swift death before he had to face Batman again, before diving into the fight as well.

No match for Batman's fighting abilities, clearly, he managed to keep himself alive with quick thinking and very strong rake handle.

Ramming an oncoming figure in the gut with the rake, Crane grit his teeth and ran, shoving the man in black off the rooftop. He spun with the rake in time to smack into the side of a figure running full force at him, before using the blunt end of the handle to stab the man in the stomach. He wasn't sure if it was a piercing hit but it would hurt like hell, if it didn't puncture anything.

Turning, he found Batman striding towards him and realized at the last moment that he was still in disguise.

Feeling it wiser to reveal himself as an old foe and not a dangerous one (at the moment), he ripped the mask off and stared the Bat down.

Recognizing him, Batman moved off among the bodies, grabbing up one who was trying to scramble away and holding him up roughly.

"Who are you working for?"

Finding no more men to fight, Crane cautiously lowered his rake and began towards Batman.

"Tell me!" Batman growled, shaking the man a little.

Wondering if he could sneak off, Crane turned to go and headed for the alley where Selina would still be waiting. That was when he realized that she'd be up fighting with them, so where was she?

He looked about at the bodies strewn across the rooftop, most of them tied up by the Bat, some of them not moving. His kills, he thought a little proudly.

Moving from body to body, turning them over, Crane searched for Selina.

Nothing.

He couldn't find her among the bodies.

Worried now, something he didn't usually feel, he moved to the rooftop edge and peered down, hoping to find her waiting.

Nothing.

Limping over to a fire escape, Crane began to lower himself, when he felt a hand yank him back up.

"Where are you going?" Batman demanded.

"Put me down, I'm not your enemy!" Crane growled.

Batman leveled a stony gaze on him.

"Well, not right now," Crane said.

Easing him down, Batman folded his arms like a scolding parent.

"Where's Catwoman?" Crane asked. "She's not up here."

Distracted by this news, Batman leapt off the rooftop and glided to the alley below.

Rolling his eyes at how easy the Bat managed to get down, Crane began his long, painful journey down the fire escape to join him at the bottom.

By the time he got down there, sirens were heard on the street and the Scarecrow growled low in his throat. The last thing he needed was to be taken into custody. He contemplated running, but with his newly re-injured leg.

He cringed at the thought, but tamped it down quickly.

"If they catch me, I'm as good as dead," he said to Batman.

The massive Bat angled his head towards Crane, still searching the alley for Catwoman.

Finding no help, Crane turned to flee, but was only scooped up by the Bat and half dragged, half carried towards his Batmobile.

Being tossed into it unceremoniously was the most undignified moment of Crane's year, but he was just grateful the Bat seemed reasonable.

Still he kept a lookout for Selina as Batman began to drive from the scene. For some odd reason he didn't like the idea of her dead in that alley somewhere, but no, he told himself. Those idiots were after him on the rooftop. She would be okay.

"Talk," Batman ordered suddenly.

Still clutching his rake awkwardly, Crane frowned.

"What's going on in Gotham?"

"The amazing Batman doesn't know? Shocking," Crane murmured.

Batman slammed on the brakes and spoke into his steering wheel. "Get me Gordon."

"Fine," Crane spat. "I'll tell you, but I want your promise that you won't treat me as an enemy and throw me over to the GCPD when I become useless to you."

Batman was quiet, before he growled. "Fine."

And so Crane told him everything, hating every moment of it, but finding himself in a sticky situation.