Holy freaking balls, this. Was. AMAZING! My god man, you can write! This was so beautiful, so angsty, so well paced, so well-characterized! I know a lot of people had a beef with batman using a gun, , which is true and I'll acknowledge it was out of character, but who the hell cares! I was like 'eh, that's weird, but I'm sure there's a version of batman that would use guns so whatevs' and I moved on and I seriously pity the readers that couldn't do that because of what they missed out on.

Seriously, aside from your beautiful imagery and the spectacular flow of your story, which reminded me of watching a movie, the best thing about it was the characterizations. I love batman, but mostly for the villains and Bruce has always just sort of been like an avatar for me to view them through but you really made him his own character and I LOVED it. You breathed life into him, made him complex and I loved watching him struggle with his two sides and the way you constantly distinguished between Bruce and Batman.

The way he viewed Crane had so many hints of tantalizing slash, but not so much as to take over the story and dumb it down to 'Batman's just crushing'. I find sometimes the danger with romance is it overshadows the complexity of relationships and doesn't allow you to really dig deep and tackle the real issues. But no, Bruce's "attraction" was so understated and well-played that I'm not even fully convinced I'm interpreting it right. This story might not even be slashy at all and I'm just reading into it, and that's awesome - I love that it could be either.

And Crane...oh my god, you wrote him so well I'm literally devastated there isn't more. I could actually HEAR Cillian Murphey's voice, see his face. You took a villain that didn't really have much development in the movie, and made him so REAL for me. Now I'm like 'Yes, THAT'S who Crane is!' Your dialogue for him gave me chills it was so good, the way you wrote him as so enigmatic and creepy and yet also endearing and oddly admirable. Everything you wrote him doing pleased me so greatly - he was vulnerable yet dangerous, morally bankrupt yet merciful, unfeeling yet somehow compassionate towards Bruce.

AHHH! I loved this so much, I'm so sad this story finished so long ago but I hope and pray that someday there's a sequel. I can only imagine how well you'd write the joker xD Peace out homie!

One finds it hard to imagine Batman killing without destroying himself and everything he is in the process.

One suspends disbelief at the moment when Batman decides that giving Crane a lot of unsupervised access to a lot of nasty chemicals is a good idea. Still, I am enjoying your characterisation at this point.

OK I do like the idea of Bruce hunting down Scarecrow in the Narrows and your portrayal of Jonathan's balance between sanity and insanity. However, I admittedly find your portrayal of Batman a bit OOC. Batman is completely and totally against the use of guns. I know as Bruce he attempted to use a gun on the guy that killed his parents, but that was before his maturity into Batman where he realized that killing his enemies was wrong (hence why he had to leave the League of Shadows in the first place). Truth be told, if you're only familiar with Batman from the movies than I can see a little better why you'd make the mistake (Bruce Wayne in the comics would never, EVER use a gun at all...the death of his parents traumatised him against guns since he was a little kid- it was one of the few things that Christopher Nolan got wrong). Hell, in the comics Batman's saved the Joker's life- the guy who brutally murdered the second Robin (who was still barely more than a child) and paralyzed Batgirl- which are worse crimes than Scarecrow committed (yes he did get personal with Rachel, but Scarecrow wasn't the Big Bad, Ra's was. Bruce didn't know it when he poisoned Crane, but he did by the end of the movie- which would make him blame Crane for his actions less, not more). Bruce of all people would know how dangerous it'd be for Crane to screw up Ra's plans. Otherwise, the story is very well written and interesting, and I'm hoping that as it develops Bruce will become more in character.

Ah, this is so wonderful! I especially like . . . well, just how Bruce and Crane interact. And how they're not cliches in any sense of the word. _

I have a quick question: is there going to be a sequel?

First off, I'd like to say that you've totally ruined wayne/crane fanfic for me. Second, I'd like to say thanks :)

This is the best piece of fanwork I've ever read for this pairing (and one of the two best that I've ever read for the Batman fandom, period). The characters were psychologically complex and believable; actually, your exploration of their pathologies reminded me, more than anything else, of "Arkham: A Serious House on Serious Earth. The imagery was visceral, memorable, and I love the fact that you wrapped it all up in an actual PLOT. A plot that, frankly, flowed like an honest-to-god film.

Anyway, thank you for an amazing piece of work. Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm going to go pimp it all over the internet.

love it

This was an absolutely wonderful story! So, the Joker kidnapped Crane? I hope there's a sequel, but I'll have to check later.

Thanks for providing us with such a well written piece!

Would have been a lot better if not for one jarring inconsistency - Batman doesn't -do- guns. He doesn't kill, and when he fights it's with his hands.

It's his only rule, that he doesn't kill.

I don't know how you would make this work without the weapon, but as it stands, I can't get into the plot because it just would never happen.

Sorry, but I won't be reading any more.

I hope you will write something else later on, a piece that reflects what the Batman is really about.

you are my favorite person ever! i love your take on Crane and Bruce. You have to write a sequel, We need to know what happens!

Glorious story. Your version of Dr. Crane drew me in. His madness is intoxicating. The strange relationship you have drawn between Bruce and Crane had me riveted, and I admit (with some shame) that I am rather desperate for you to write more...

luv it! Keep at it!

OMG. You have to continue. It's... mandatory! Not that I have any authority over your decisions, but I am not below begging. PLEASE CONTINUE! More chapters, a sequel, anything!

i'm only on the second chapter but just recognized the elliott smith. you have good taste.

This whole idea was so very awesome, I love that you showed just how close Bruce was to being just another crazy, and that Crane was anything *but* just another crazy. Plus, your crane voice? wonderful mix of snark and angst.

. . . I'm really hoping that with crane's kidnapping that there'll be a sequel. After that almost epiphany Bruce couldn't leave the poor guy to the nefarious clutches of the joker, could he? (well, Batman could, I suppose)

But anyways- this was a great story, thanks for sharing!