The Assistant

Chapter One – A Case of the Mondays

He hated Mondays. Not for the obvious reasons that every other working person in existence hated them, but because Mondays for him would mean the breaking in of yet another new assistant.

They never seemed to last more than a week with him, whether they broke from the excessive stress brought on by working at an establishment such as Arkham, or his constant scrutiny and need for perfection as their superior... they never lasted to the next Monday.

Come now, Jonathan, let's not forget about Mr. Cross… he lasted a whole nine days working for us. The Scarecrow taunted from the depths of his mind.

Yes, but if I may remind you he is currently employed at the local McDonald's. So much for that fancy early acceptance to Brown he loved bringing up as often as he could.

Both Jonathan and the Scarecrow smiled to themselves with satisfaction, Mr. Cross had been a fun toy to play with, neither of them would deny that fact.

A sudden soft knock on the door of his office snapped Jonathan back to reality. "Come in." he called to whoever was on the other side, the door then began to open.

"Hello?" asked the small figure that entered. "I was told to come here for my first day." Her voice was almost as timid as her demeanor.

Oooh, this one's gonna be as easy as pie to break. The Scarecrow was cackling now.

"Yes, I'm Dr. Crane, and you must be Ms. Jessica Matthews." He looked her up and down before finishing. "Am I correct?" he put extra emphasis on the last word causing her to visibly shudder with nervousness.

"Yes, sir." The answer was as small and simple as she was.

"Doctor." He immediately corrected her, or was he scolding her? It was hard to discern at the moment.

"I'm sorry, Dr. Crane." She lowered her hazel eyes to the plain carpet on the floor.

Interesting, I didn't ask for that much formality but it will certainly do.

"It says here that you are 23 and have already graduated with a Bachelor's in both Psychopharmacology and Psychology and you are now working on achieving a Master's in Psychology, is that right?" he read from the file he held up, blocking her view of his face as he spoke.

"Yyess… I.. I duel majored in Psychology and Psychopharmacology…" she stuttered nervously, this caught his attention and he lowered the file to look her in the eyes as she continued. "But I am currently in my fourth year earning my Master's and starting my thesis. They told me at the university that because of the subject of my thesis I should work here, with you, and…"

"What is your thesis about?" he cut her off before she could finish. Something about this girl made him impatient.

"The study of fear and the mind's ability to overcome it." She stared past his glasses into his cold blue eyes for a moment before casting her view down to the floor.

Well isn't this a nice little surprise?

"And your professor told you that I was the best candidate to educate you in this field." It would have been a question if it weren't for the arrogance of his tone. It didn't matter if it was a question or not, she only nodded mutely anyway.

He took this moment of silence to look her over. She was a plain little thing, barely 5'2 and wearing a dark gray dress skirt and matching jacket over a lilac button-up shirt.

It looks like mommy helped her get dressed this morning.

How predictable.

"Well I am not going to lie to you Ms. Matthews, I run a tight ship here, and Arkham is definitely not the easiest place to start out learning firsthand about anything, let alone psychology." His mannerism suggested he was bored with her already, but vocally he was in perfect control and aware of everything. "You will be given a key card and a pin number that will open every door except for the ones in the Secure Wing, it will be off limits unless supervised by myself, do you understand?" he narrowed his gaze on her expectantly.

"Yes, Dr. Crane, I understand." She nodded along with her response, never taking her eyes off of him as he spoke.

"Good." He stood from his seat and began to walk towards her, dropping her file on his desk as he did so. "I look forward to working with you, Ms. Matthews, and I hope you learn everything you need from me while you are here." The first part was a total lie, but she didn't need to know that. He extended his hand for her and she shook it hesitantly. "Welcome aboard. Now, let's get you all the proper identification." Short and sweet, he opened the door to his office and gestured for her to lead the way down the narrow hallway.

Jonathan followed closely behind his new assistant, noting her dark brown hair pulled back in a messy bun before dropping his eyes down to her waistline, she had nice hips, he had to give her that.

Having fun staring at her ass, Jonny boy? His darker half teased. Didn't think your mind would go there so quickly, not with a plain Jane little girl like this one.

I wasn't thinking anything of the sort; you're always the one putting these thoughts in my head!

The Scarecrow laughed deeply in the back of his mind.

Whatever lies help you sleep at night, Jonathan.

Just do me a favor and shut up.

After stopping off at the maintenance desk and acquiring all the needed tools for the job, identity badge and key card, Dr. Crane now led the way down one of the first floor corridors.

"This is the first floor where all of the new patients are to be processed, cleaned and changed into the proper attire for their stay here at the asylum." He lectured her as she tried her best to keep up with his quick and steady pace down the hallway. "No patients are to be housed on the first and second floors of the main building, these floors are mostly used to house paperwork and the offices of the resident psychiatrists."

Jonathan stopped his stride abruptly in front of the old metal doors of the elevator; he pressed the small round button on the wall before turning to face her.

"Any questions so far?" his cold and calculating gaze was now upon her.

"Where are the rooms held for the patients to receive therapy sessions?" it seemed like a dumb question but at the moment she was trying to say anything to keep from going completely mute in his presence.

"There are assigned rooms on each floor where they are housed and some patients are even given therapy in their own rooms if the situation calls for such a thing." The doors to the elevator suddenly flew open, distracting his train of thought. "Don't worry, Ms. Matthews, we will get to the therapy sessions all in good time, no need to rush things." He stepped into the elevator as he spoke and she silently followed him.

"I'm sorry, I wasn't trying to get ahead of myself I just-" she began before he rudely cut her off.

"A lot of the new doctors that come here, and the new assistants for that matter, all they seem to be interested in is the high profile patients Arkham holds. It is extremely annoying and disappointing when I discover the only reason they are here is to make a name for themselves writing some over glorified book about a serial killer, I find it a terrible waste of my time." He then shot her a severely stern look to further emphasize his point.

"Oh, no, I don't want to write a book I just, I…" she couldn't seem to spit it out, just shrank against the furthest wall of the elevator and cast her eyes to the ground. "I'm just here to learn, that's all." He could barely hear her last words, she said them as small and quietly as possible.

Timid little one, isn't she? Like a rabbit cornered by a fox.

Or a wolf. I like this one, Jonathan, she's so easy to put in her place.

Perhaps too easy.

Jonathan let out a tired sigh. "I'm sorry to have doubted your intentions here, Ms. Matthews; I only wanted to make you aware of my low tolerance for such things. Now that you know I'm sure you will do your best to not disappoint me." He flashed her a smug smile, as if it were to make up for his curtness before.

"Of course, Dr. Crane, I don't want to disappoint you at all." Her eyes never left the floor as the elevator came to a halt and the doors slid open to reveal a new floor.

Jonathan however couldn't seem to take his eyes off of her form, analyzing her as best he could in the dim light of the elevator. "This way, please." He then gestured for her to exit.

As they stepped onto the third floor the immediate sound of screaming caused her to flinch, Jessica's eyes widened at the sight that was now before her. Two orderlies were struggling with a straightjacket clad man who was bucking and trashing against the walls and everything else he could bring his body into contact with.

She just froze, no matter how much she told herself to move she couldn't seem to get her legs to work. Jonathan observed his new assistant for a moment, noting the obvious fear she was experiencing before reaching into the pocket of his black suit-coat and retrieving a long syringe.

Without a second's thought the doctor made his way up to the psychotic patient just as the orderlies pushed his straightjacketed body up against the wall, giving Dr. Crane the perfect opportunity to inject him, which he did.

The patient suddenly quieted and slid down the cream colored wall, taking the orderlies with him to the floor. Jonathan let out a deep breath before turning to a nurse who had just came to assist.

"Was he given his 8 o'clock dose of Thorazine?" the doctor demanded from the nurse with nothing but disdain in his voice.

"Um, yes, Dr. Crane… I believe he did." The woman in her early fifties answered nervously.

"You believe he did or you know he did, which is it Nurse Tompkins?" he looked like a cobra about to strike.

"I, I'm not sure if he received his 8 o'clock dose, doctor, I'm sorry." The nurse stammered out, now beginning to tremble.

He said nothing to this, only removed his glasses slowly, pinching the bridge of his nose before placing the frames back on his face.

"Next time I come down here and have to administer a sedative because of your inability to do your job, Nurse Tompkins, it will be your last day employed here at Arkham Asylum. Now get back to work." He coldly stated with no emotion on his face, the nurse only nodded before quickly scurrying away to do god knows what in the next room.

Jonathan looked to his left to see his new assistant's petite frame glued against the far wall beside the now closed elevator doors. "Are we having fun so far, Ms. Matthews?" he called from where he stood, snapping her out of her terrified daze. "Baptism by fire I am afraid, welcome to the Secure Wing of Arkham." He let a small smirk play on his lips as he said the last part.

"I.. I thought I wasn't supposed to be here… you said…" she trailed off in a shaky voice, clearly she was frightened out her wits.

"I said it was off limits without my supervision, trust me, you are perfectly safe as long as I am here." He let another smug smirk appear on his chiseled face, it only seemed to make her even more uneasy.

Somehow I don't think she believes you about that safe bit, Jonny boy.

Well then, maybe she's smarter than she looks.

A/n:

It's been years since I last wrote anything… but I've been wanting to write a fanfic about the Scarecrow for about 3 years now, so I figured since I can't Photoshop at the moment I should try to work on a story. Clear out those metaphorical cobwebs that have been piling up in my creative thought process.

I hate short chapters so I am going to try my best to never write one on this story, time will only tell if I will be made a liar or not.

Just to let everyone know, the Scarecrow's thoughts/conversations with Crane will be in bold italics while Jonathan's will be in regular italics… just in case you haven't picked up on it already, thought I'd give the heads up.

Don't really know where this story is gonna go, or how often I will be updating… but if you like what you've seen so far let me know in a review and I will do my very best to not disappoint anyone.

Thanks.