Hello, everyone and Happy New Year to you all. I have a great treat for you all in this chapter. I still think it's one of my best ones, and is when things really heat up.

So, I hope that you have a great year and enjoy the story.

When Crane opened his eyes, all he could see was just a blur of lights and colors, hazy and indistinct. His vision swam, his mind filled with a blurry fog, as if he had been drugged. His ears were ringing, and he could barely keep his vision focused, even when he tried to squint. He tried to move his arms and legs, only to find them unresponsive and numb, as if he had been given anesthesia before he had awoken.

He could see a white-clad figure coming towards him, her boots making slight taps on the floor as she moved her booted feet.

"Ah, I see you are awake, my dear Scarecrow," the figure spoke, her voice smooth and sly, like that of a predator talking to its prey.

He couldn't place the voice yet, his mind swimming in the fog. "Who-Who are you? You sound…familiar."

"Oh, Jonathan, did you honestly forget the one who worked with you at such a critical moment in your career?" she asked, her voice dripping with sickly sweetness.

Instantly, the fog in his mind cleared, and he could focus again on just who was talking to him and remembered how he had gotten into this situation. She must have wanted me alive for a reason, otherwise she would have killed me with that blast instead of making it just knock me out, he thought, watching her closely. I must make her think that I am on her side, then, when she is distracted, I'll strike. "No, I couldn't forget someone that I had once worked with so closely. But I am surprised that you seem so keen to get my attention, Friitawa. One would almost think you were working on something big in store for our little friend, the Bat."

The albino's lips curled into a savage smile. "Oh, yes. I am working on something big, my dear Scarecrow. Something that will bring both Batman and Gotham to its very knees in terror."

"Oh? And what might that be?" he asked in eagerness, trying to bite back the sour feeling in his stomach about what she might be planning involving the Scarebeast.

"Patience, sweetie. All will be revealed in due time," she replied, her red eyes watching him lustfully.

He couldn't help but shiver when she finally turned away from him to fiddle with the monitors. He understood now how Becky must have felt with his stalking. The way she looked at him couldn't help but cause him to feel queasy. Not to mention he was already feeling pretty weak from the explosion's toll on his body.

"But first, about this new girl that you've been seen with…why do you seem so interested in her company? It's not like you, to be suddenly so interested in some nobody like her," she asked, her mock sweetness barely covering the hatred in her voice.

His eyes narrowed, but he kept his face stoic and his tone moderate. "Perhaps. But she does have her uses."

"Oh? And what can she offer you that I can't?" she asked, her fingers dancing along his shoulders, much to his annoyance.

"Loyalty, compassion, kindness, integrity. Things that I'm sure that you know all too well," he said, saying his last sentence sarcastically.

"Oh, Jonathan…do you really think I'm that callous? I treated you with kindness once upon a time, didn't I? Why can't we go back to those times, times where we worked as co-workers, partners, pioneers of Fear, hmm?" she asked, mock hurt in her voice.

Jonathan growled. He was tired of her coy mocking and lustfully glances at him. He didn't know why he had ever thought she had been his friend. Everything about her screamed fake, from her voice to her face to even the way she held herself. He couldn't stand it. If not for his currently weakened state of body and mind, he would have sprayed her with enough fear gas to put her into a vegetative state. "That's because you betrayed me, mutated me into a monster."

She smirked as she saw the yellow glare of his eyes intensifying. "But isn't that what you wanted, my darling Scarecrow? Power to make Gotham fall to its knees in fear? Power to make all those nasty people like your grandmother suffer the terror of their own nightmares and superstitions?"

"Don't talk about my life as if you know it, Friitawa! You know nothing about me!" he snarled, his sulfurous eyes glaring at her with fury.

This time, she started to laugh. "I know nothing about you, do I? Like how I know that you decided to bring that little tramp into your life even though she put you in Arkham singlehandedly not once, but twice in the same week? Like how I know about how you train her and look at her like she's fear wrapped in a nice little bow? How you kissed her?" she asked, practically spitting the last word out. "Oh, yes. I know everything about what you two were doing."

His eyes widened as he now fit the entire puzzle together. "You mean you constructed all this elaborate trap, this whole scheme, on just some petty rivalry with her?"

She chuckled, her red eyes leering at him evilly. "I'm not surprised you figured it out. I wouldn't expect anything less from someone who has a Doctorate in Psychology. As you might have guessed, I am jealous of her. Why should she deserve all your attention? Why does she get to be called the Mistress of Fear, when, without me, you would have not had such a potent mix in the first place? Why do you choose her and not me, when I have the clear advantage over her and would be much more of an asset to your cause than that stupid little girl? I made your success possible! I made these abominations that I call henchmen with only my knowledge of chemicals and the combination of the Scarebeast formula and my own! I gave you the power to destroy all your enemies if you so wish it! So why do you not use it?" She asked, bellowing out all her rage and hate at him.

Crane knew this was dangerous for him. Already, he could feel stiffness in the nerves of his legs, as if they were completely rigid and unmovable, like heavy pieces of lumber. He knew that was not good at all, but he couldn't help but feel enraged at her insults to Becky. Friitawa needed to learn her place. "First off," he growled, his eyes blazing with fury. "Becky is not stupid. She might be inexperienced in this game, but she has the potential to learn and become just as strong as you or I, if given the chance. Secondly, I chose her because she keeps her word and loyalty to what she believes, which is more than I can say for most of the people in this cesspit of a city! She's better than you or I, Friitawa, and truly, I didn't choose her. She chose me."

Friitawa's eyes narrowed as he continued, the button already pushed to call in her secret weapon as her eyes narrowed with rage.

"There's more to life than just fear and betrayal. So what that she has to walk with a cane? So what that she can't do the things that we can do? I don't have all the fancy gadgets that Batman has, and yet I've taken him down, on more than one occasion with just my fear toxin and wits."

He started to chuckle. "And now, you barely have that. All this money, all this power, and yet you can't stop your inevitable fate. Or do you not know the long term affects of mixing Venom with other steroids and enhancers?"

"How-"

"It was simple, really," he gloated, feeling like he had turned the tables of this game. "The chemicals you were using for your main experiments with genetics were unstable by itself. Using Venom, you managed to keep the compound stable, for a time. And once you decided to betray me and mutate me into the Scarebeast, you took the rest of the chemicals for yourself, as well as the serum you made to cure yourself of your albinism. You probably figured that the serum was stable enough to last long enough to bond to your bloodstream. But it didn't, did it?"

He could tell he was ruffling her feathers, but he couldn't help the feeling of finally sticking it to her all the troubles and the mess she had shoved on him all those years ago.

"Oh, it lasted a while. A few months, a year, at least. But then it began to wear off. So you tried and again, but nothing could stop the poison in your bloodstream that was slowly killing you. And that's why you need me, isn't it? Because without my blood, you would die. But when you found Becky, it became personal. You hated the fact that I was finally happy with someone that was not you. So, you designed your plan, trying to scare us into submission, trying to cow us into a corner. And when that failed, you kidnap me to get the results you want and stick it to her that you were better than her."

She started to laugh, a long and low laugh that chilled his spine. "Very good. You figured out my plan. Congratulations," she replied, sarcasm dripping down her words as she started to clap a few times. "But that won't stop anything."

"Maybe not," he admitted, already feeling the itching feeling of his skin and bones converting to wood as it started to race up his neck. "But that won't stop me from making sure you are done for, once and for all." He raised his massive wooden hand, ready to smash her into the ground like a flattened albino pancake.

Only to find his arm frozen in the air. He willed it to move, to crush her and end her, but he couldn't move it at all.

"What's going on?" he roared, trying to will himself to move, only to be stuck in place.

Friitawa laughed. "You didn't think that I would have been stupid enough to talk to you without some guarantee of protection for myself. I know perfectly what you are capable of, and I can't let my plan fail that easily."

She pulled out a bracelet-like object from around her wrist, a single solitary red, blinking light shining in the middle of it.

Jonathan's eyes widened in horror as he realized what he was seeing. He knew that device anywhere. Tetch often used it to control his laboratory mice back when he was still employed at WayneTech and once he became a criminal, on people. With this device, he could make people do whatever it was he wanted, just by thinking of it.

"Oh yes, I captured your little friend, Jervis. And, with a little convincing, got him to make me one of his special cards, just for you. And he was so happy to do it as well. He was practically beaming!" she shouted.

"But that doesn't matter. Soon, Gotham will kneel before me as its mistress and queen! Ah hahahahahaha!" she cackled, as the Scarebeast roared.