New Knight, New Terrors
Batman loomed over Gotham like the shadow of a cloud. The doom that had so often hung over the city was starting to clear up after the end of the first Knight's reign of terror. But some shades still roam the streets, bringing horror to all who walk them after dark. A voice came over his radio.
"You've got to see this." The voice had its positive tones as always, but Bludhaven's defender was scared. His phone pinged as he received a text with a link. He opened it and saw a live stream of someone wearing the old Scarecrow costume.
Why does it seem like all the old guys have come out to play? Batman thought as the camera blurred the Scarecrow and focused on the victim bound to the chair. He had an Roman nose and seemed absolutely terrified, but not drug-induced fear.
"What are you, my pet?" came a distorted voice from the villain.
The man in the chair cocked his head and jerked it to look at him.
"A crow of course! And what do scarecrows do to crows?"
The man's eyes widened and he made a cawing noise nervously.
"That's right!" Scarecrow raised his hand, which was revealed to be covered with vials and needles extending down the fingers, and jabbed it into the man's neck. The movements of his fingers triggered the plungers to push a dose of fear toxin into the man who began cawing frantically. "This is real therapy!" the scarecrow growled, his blurred mask filling the camera.
"I assume you have a location?" Batman asked over the radio.
"Would I have called you if I didn't?" Another ping on his phone.
"Thank you Nightwing. You've did good."
"Not going to get used to Batman's praise." Nightwing chuckled.
*~.~*
Batman crashed through the skylight in front of the chair the victim was bound to. Without pausing, he cut the binds and released him. "Wouldn't be so quick to do that," came a voice. It was a girl's voice. Couldn't have belonged to someone older than seventeen. Just a little younger than...
"Has he gotten you too?" Batman called to the voice.
"What? Not the voice you were expecting to hear? You should know better than to assume every villain is a he. But I guess your voice is a little smoother than your predecessor's too."
"I'm not trying to prove something." Batman kept turning on point to try and locate the Scarecrow.
"I am, though. See that man you freed?" The man was curled into a ball, chewing on his fingertips until they bled. "He's hardly worth saving. Thinks he's a bird. I had hoped that fear would reintroduce him to humanity, but alas, he has failed my therapy."
"He failed you, huh?" Batman was starting to get a read on her. "That's how you want to word that?"
"The therapy works, though! My father was obsessed with fear. He caused fear in others, and they became their authentic selves. And when he was lost, the Batman came and reintroduced him to the fear to which he had become desensitized. It made him human again. When I was afraid he'd come home not himself, or that the Bat would come and get me, he gave me his fear therapy, and I built up walls to keep them out. Fear works!"
"That's what Bruce thought." Batman grappled up and swung to the catwalk where Scarecrow was standing, engulfing her in his cape and sliding back to the ground. "But no one is themself when they are scared!" Batman grabbed the Scarecrow hood and yanked it off. The girl underneath had a slim, sheet-white face with pale lips, and wiry red hair. She leapt back, landing near the victim. She covered her face and bent toward the ground.
"Don't look!" she cried, giving way to sobs.
"Hey, I'm not here to hurt you or scare you. Here, let me see those green eyes."
The girl looked up slowly, tears streaming down her red, freckled face. The red stood out dramatically against the almost corpse-like complexion of the rest of the face.
"I want to help you, but first we need to make sure you and I are safe, yeah? Can you take off the injector glove?"
As if she suddenly realized how close she had just come to jabbing an eye out, she unhooked it from her wrist and set it on the ground.
"Thank you. Now what can I do to help you right now?"
"I..." her breathing was rapid and shallow, but she was regaining control, "I want to wear the hood."
Batman picked up the hood and tossed it back to Scarecrow. "Can I ask your name?"
"I'm Scarecrow." She seemed to have regained some confidence having put the mask back on.
"Okay. Did you pick that out, or did your parents give you that name?"
"My dad called me his bird. 'More a like a bat,' he said when he was angry. I don't think I want to be a bird or a bat or a scarecrow, though..."
"Who would you like to be?" Batman asked.
"I think I'd like to be a girl. Can you think of a good girl's name?"
"One of my dad's friends knew a lot of strong women with Greek names. Something like Athena or Hera. Aphrodite could be a bit finicky, but she definitely made her own way. Or there's Helena who was so beautiful she started wars."
"Those names are ancient; many of them, divine. Dad said gods aren't real."
"Some people called the men my dad ran with gods, though only some of them were. This woman was a goddess, and she knew many goddesses, though the gods were less fond of her. Can you think of a name?"
"Maybe I can be Morgan, like the Morrigan, a different goddess."
"That's a great name. Morgan, what do you think of Arkham Ward?"
"My dad went to Arkham many times. Before he became obsessed with fear, he worked there."
"It's a different place than it was then. They used to use it like a prison or place of punishment, but now it's more like the hospital it always should have been. What do you think of going there?"
"Will you go with me?"
"I can take you there in the Batmobile, and I can visit you sometimes. Do you think your dad will visit?"
"I hope not."
"I'll ensure he doesn't then. Is there a mother in the picture?"
"She might be there already. Dad tested a lot of drugs on her."
Batman nodded solemnly, heat coming his eyes. "If you can help me get this man into the back, I'll let you ride shotgun."
Morgan and Batman loaded the first victim into the backseat and strapped him in. Batman went to the driver's seat, and Morgan sat next to him. "Your voice does sound different, though. It sounds... strained? Like you're trying to make it sound different than it normally does?"
"I'd like it to be deeper. I exercise my vocal cords to try make them longer and thicker."
"Oh."
*~.~*
At the hospital, Batman saw to making sure Morgan and the other patient were admitted safely and that the information was correct. "I'll be visiting her sometimes." Batman told the front desk. "And if her father shows up, have someone call this number," he set a folded slip of paper on the table, "and stall for as long as you can."
"I'm not sure how long we'd be able to stall someone--"
"Reformed or not, you're a hospital. Hospitals have rarely had trouble slowing people down."
With that, Batman turned and left the building. He let the Batmobile drive itself back to the 'Cave. Police arrived at the building where Scarecrow had been and found the chair, some loose bonds, and shards of broken glass. When they looked at the skylight, there was a note attached to an AC unit by a batarang that read simply, "Bill damages to Wayne Enterprises."
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