Chapter 11 Optophobia- Fear of opening one's eyes.

Hi Fanfic! First, my apolgies for disappearing like that, but the good news, university is over and moi graduated with what I wanted, then all the fun stuff that happens after uni had to be sorted out but back now :D Happy Day of the Dead too, felt this was a fitting day to put up this chapter (ok, was meant to be up for Halloween...shoot me :P)

Jonathan Crane never did see the appeal of team ups. Comics, to sell their now tired out, reused swill usually teamed Captain America up with somebody completely opposite like Deadpool so that hilarity would ensue and the fan boys would be happy (he had long since passed the phase where he stole money to buy comics so was now able to comment on the uselessness of such rubbish). However, a team up of the Rogues Gallery usually resulted in poetry in motion; today was such poetry. This assault course was indeed, a feast of fear and manipulation, a truly worthy challenge of the mind which couldn't have been achieved without Nygma's challenges. Yes, whilst he had over the years, grown weary of Harley, developed sheer ennui towards Pamela and her constantly trying to tell Catherine that any type of sex was rape (a mantra which was now so worn out and pointless, Crane no longer got angry) and nothing but contempt for the clown, he still appreciated Edward's ability to think on his wavelength. If only he could improve Nygma's personality so that he didn't throw his toys out of the pram at every little thing. Looking up at Edward coming back into the room, he smirked.

"Interrupting the experiment for your own gains Edward?" He began coughing. Damn this voice. He should have listened to Catherine when she begged him to wear a gas mask. And setting up this experiment had been the final straw for his vocal chords it seemed. He ignored Edward's pitying looks and looked back to the screen "I'm glad you left the subject, this part is esse..."

"She's not a subject. She's my property." Edward snarled at Crane. "You dare take a girl of such intelligence an.."

"Let's just stop right there Edward. Just because she can answer some riddles, does not make her intelligent. This next task however..." He sneered, "Will either prove this night a success or a failure. Despite you contaminating the experiment with external factors." Inside, he was laughing. The secondary and third hypothesise were beginning to play out nicely, shame the next stage had begun before Edward could truly prove his suggestions right. Still, he was here now, and Crane needed to entice the master of puzzles further. "If you really think she's worth anything Edward, watch this next clip. If tonight has been building up to anything, it's this."

"Take one step closer and I cut her throat"

It was unbelievable. Chloe felt her mouth fall open and a hoarse scream escaped her lips, her neck still reeling from the Riddler's onslaught. She had seen so many weird, horrendous and bizarre things tonight, but it seemed the horrors would just keep coming. Panicking, she sensed the danger in the newly revealed room and held her hands up in a spontaneous, half baked gesture of surrender and peace offering.

"Don..." She rasped, seizing her throat in pain, but her eyes never left the horror in front of her. It didn't help though.

"I mean it bitch." Zara snarled. She clutched her handful of Lisa's hair roughly, digging a newly revealed pair of scissors threateningly into the nape of Lisa's neck; threatening to pierce the skin, yet not hard enough to draw blood. Chloe squeaked hoarsely. This was it, Zara had snapped and she had drawn the battle lines. Around her, the rest of the girls were still under the influence of the nightmare toxin, screaming, rolling on the floor, their eyes were wide open, but glazed. In the middle, Zara was an island of her own insanity; Lisa whimpered, her unwilling hostage; Chloe continued to stare at her nonplussed, her heart racing.

"Where the hell did you get those from?" She demanded, this night was starting to make her head hurt. Why the hell was that insane woman carrying a pair of scissors? Where had she been hiding them?

Zara began to cackle madly. Her body was still swimming with toxin, and she felt her heart racing at a hundred miles an hour. It was difficult to piece together what had happened; she knew that she had been coming back from yet another dull shift at the hairdresser's before it had all gone dark and she had woken up in the room with the girls. Those bitches. Those bitches were in on the game with the psychos watching them. She had woken from a horrifying trance of her being on fire, to see that Wheaton girl, that bitch who had taunted her, held her own encounter with Jonathan Crane up in front of her mockingly. She had met Crane, this Mandelson girl had met him too...this wasn't a coincidence.

Yes, at the beginning, she'd foolishly believed that this was actually a test. It had to have been right? She remembered being obsessed with him and doing anything to grab his attention.

Nobody took her seriously. The high school dropout who cleaned up other people's hair clippings in some dank hairdressers in the backward part of Gotham. All her life, Zara had been a nobody. Born to immigrant parents fleeing communist Cuba, she had learnt from a young age that life was shit, and thus, you would be treated like shit. For years now though, she had found solace in one thing and one thing only: The Scarecrow. It was funny; everyone looked to the Batman for their inspiration for a better life, but somehow, she was more drawn to the villains, especially he who rode around on a horse through the streets of Gotham like a knight in the Mills and Boon books she often read on her lunch breaks. He was rejected by society too, and yes, he was a little rough around the edges, but he just needed somebody...a strong Latino woman whom they would both benefit from each other's company. That had been the dream when he had first emerged as the Master of Fear, to join him in grinding down the gringos of Gotham and every other ungrateful bitch whose hair she had to cut day in day out. He made people notice him, she'd have made an ideal Mistress. Unfortunately, as she watched his career, like seeing your favourite actor hook up with that actress you don't like and having it splashed all over MTV, she saw Jonathan Crane pair himself with unworthy bitches. First, there was Becky Albright, the skinny ginger child with the audacity to turn against him and reject the ultimate offer: To join him. Who in their right mind would reject both him and this offer? After this, Albright disappeared from public, probably in witness protection or something like that (Zara trawled the internet and the paper obsessed to find some information, but nothing came of it). True, she'd only been 14 when this had happened, but still, age didn't matter when it came to love right? All she needed to do was meet him.

He betrayed her though; he never waited for her to meet him. A few years ago, he went into hiding and then, upon re-emerging, she was with him. Elizabeth Griffin, aka: Psyche was worst than Albright because she actually stayed with Scarecrow, after all these years, they were still together. Each newspaper report, each TV special on the news, was a slap in Zara's face. Yes, each and every time she saw the God of Fear and Lady Screamer together, was just another reminder that she had missed out on the chance to join the Scarecrow. She didn't know why he'd bestowed such an honour upon Griffin. A big nosed, skinny, sour bitch with no personality, covered in scars and body hair to resemble a baby gorilla...what the hell did she have over Zara? This drove her crazy! Of course, when Jonathan noticed her, then he'd chuck Griffin and take up his Latino Scream Queen instead...right? She'd planned her introduction to him well. The opening of a new all night clinic in the upper east side of the Narrows was well chosen so that he would see it, wherever he was; after all, every time that murderous vigilante (she didn't care what cover up or U-turn the police did, racist corrupt group of bastards if there ever was who buried the murder of Harvey Dent from all those years ago) beat up her beloved Scarecrow, there were always reports of a pharmacy or something like that being raided the following morning, so he clearly kept tabs on all new all-nighter pharmacies in this area of Gotham.

It was the perfect plan. Go there and send a message out to him that she was ready now to take her place by his side. Ok, so when she got there, there was just the journalist from the local grocery store rag and the dead end sap from local news, but that was enough. Jumping in front of the cameras, she tore her clothes off and screamed "ATTENTION GOTHAM, THIS GOES OUT TO MY LORD THE SCARECROW. LOOK AT ME! I AM YOUR TRUE MISTRESS OF FEAR..." At this point, she was tackled by the store owner and a general passerby who attempted to cover her up with her coat. No, she thought. This was her declaration to him. She had to be noticed by him now. Bursting out of their grip, she grabbed the camera which was still recording and screamed into it "Johnny my darling, look at me. I'm your true partner...not Psyche...LOOK AT MY LEGS FOR ONE! AREN'T THEY BETTER THAN THOSE MATCHSTICKS?" At this point, the policeman overseeing the opening of this clinic grabbed her roughly whilst the cameraman wrestled his equipment away from her and she was quietly led away (whilst the crowd had collapsed in hysterical laughter). Yes, she'd become an internet laughing stock, and her appearance overshadowed the opening of the new all night free clinic, but all that had mattered was that he'd noticed...he had to have seen her on tv...right?

A few weeks later, she was walking back from the hardware store with a canister of gasoline for the BBQ being held at her friend's home. Evening in the Narrows is a depressing time; the smog and pollution blocked out what little sun there was and turned the skies a thick, phlegm-like colour and walking by the river lacked any romantic notions one would associate with walking by a river at dusk; the water was polluted and thick, rather like most people who lived here . It was then, she saw him...out of costume and trying to look incognito, shuffling down the street in a woollen hat and fleece so baggy it was falling off his shoulders. He looked like a hobo, but she'd recognise that thick black hair, those high cheek bones anywhere. She was also there; that fake bitch that should have been dead. She recognised Griffin from anywhere, despite the hoe wearing huge black sunglasses and a thin brown mack, her thick, out of control, long brunette locks brushed forward to hide most of her face with that huge hook of a nose protruding out...she looked like a piss-take of a cartoon detective. At first, Zara stood there, transfixed at the Couple of Fear actually walking around the streets...it was such a normal thing for such as them, it was actually unnerving. Super villains did not walk around the streets at night without...protection...thugs...guns...dressed in civilian clothing (ok, dressed in a way to make them blend into the crowd, but Zara had never seen them out of their costumes or Arkham attire). The next moments happened in slow motion; Psyche began talking quietly to Crane who in turn, looked down at the woman who only just came up to his elbows and smiled. Zara's blood boiled, and she was about to scream out, when a black figure dropped down, landing on top of them and knocking them both to the ground. Psyche was trapped, but Crane had rolled side wards. Straightening up, he smirked at the Batman, his eyes never leaving his and ignoring the screams of Psyche who was underfoot. "I believe that you're standing on my property Batman." He stated coolly before, with all the speed of a cougar, he lunged at the Bat, causing him to jump off Griffin (who screeched at the shock of Batman's foot on her stomach) and drive his fist into Crane's jaw. Zara, still stood there transfixed as she watched Crane, FROM THE floor, raise his arm and spray Batman with toxin. For a second, she held her breath keen to see the effects of fear toxin actually being used on El Murciélago. She was disappointed however when the Batman merely coughed slightly before punching Scarecrow in the face.

"Oh for fuck's sake. How did you do an antidote to this strain?" Psyche had yelled, finally straightening up, pulling out a revolver and pointing it at the Bat, regardless of him holding Crane in a chokehold. "Take. Your Hands. Off. Him. Now." Psyche had commanded, in a voice which actually made Zara jump. Batman on the other hand, wasn't as fazed. Reaching for his belt with lightning speed, twisting Crane into a human shield position and calling Psyche's bluff, he launched a batarrang at her, knocking the gun out of her hands and causing her to hiss in pain angrily. Whilst Griffin tried to dive for her gun again, Batman threw a second batarrang, clipping her around the head and subduing the infamous villainess. Still Zara watched. It was unbelievable...Elizabeth Griffin had failed in protecting the love of Zara's life...she was unworthy...she was unworthy.

In a flash of pure obsession and madness, Zara looked down, the can of gasoline liquid in her hands...her lighter in her pocket. Her eyes fixed on the still disorientated Griffin and Batman and Johnny fighting each other...it was like taking candy from a baby! She'd kill Psyche, and she'd naturally take her place. She crept closer to her, unscrewing the cap quietly (in her head, all she could see was her Johnny. Her Johnny taking her up in his arms, her Johnny clapping as the unworthy bitch burnt, the realisation dawning on him that he had finally found her).

Ahh, she never saw her. The dumb bitch Griffin whipped around and glared at her up close, her teeth bared and a fist crashing into Zara's jaw, knocking the can out of her hands. It was too late though, from the floor, Zara smirked, looking at the face of the woman who had stolen from her...she was so close she could see the acne, the whites of her eyes, the scars...the surgery scars around her nose...it was amazing to see the woman so close up...she was so small...she was weak (true Zara wasn't the strongest person in the world, but seeing Griffin about to die, she felt so powerful). Pulling out the lighter from her pocket, she looked into those dark brown eyes madly and savoured them widen when the bitch realised what was about to happen. Unfortunately, that interfering bastard Batman did too. Just as Zara had flipped the lid, ready to burn (the not so scary) Griffin, a batarrang collided with her hand, causing her to drop it with a cry of pain...and let go of Griffin's scalp. Looking up livid at him, Zara's face contorted

"No." Batman growled. "Never kill...that is not justice..."

"This isn't justice..." Zara spat, looking at the man caught in a headlock by Batman in a sickening manner. "This is for hi..." This sentence however, was cut off by a loud SPLASH. Looking down, Zara screamed wildly like a wounded animal. Griffin had escaped, jumping into the murky waters of the river beside them instead of just standing there and accepting her death and letting Zara take her rightful place as the Mistress of Fear. Looking back up, ready to scream at the Bat, to beg Johnny to forgive her failure...but Batman was gone. The Batmobile was beginning to close, and Jonathan Crane was sat in there bound and almost unconscious...but looking at her...dead in the eyes...no affection, no disappointment...no sense of the feelings she had carried around for him all these years since she was 12...he just seemed to be analysing her before the door slammed shut.

Since then, she'd lived in hope. He'd looked at her...hadn't that been enough? Tonight...tonight had to be a challenge right? He'd cast off Psyche, and tonight was all about proving herself to her idol to test her on her suitability to join him by his side. It had been terrifying, it had been hard, but she had overcome it, she had woken up from...that memory when she failed. When she had come round, that Lisa girl was the only other one awake, she was running around the room screaming at the top of her lungs, an insane smile playing on her lips. Why wasn't she on the floor like the rest? She went to stand up, but felt a weird sensation on the inside of her socks. Easing her hand down, she felt a cold sharpness. Tracing her hand down to avoid detection from the girl running around, she eased the cold, hard object out...a pair of scissors. Zara rose slowly to the only girl standing; still looking at the door and screaming. It was weird though, though the Wheaton girl was screaming loudly, her eyes were expressionless, glassy and cold (being a hairdresser, Zara had plenty of experience seeing women unload their troubles to her through a mirror). With the scissors in her hand, it clicked.

"You bitches." She snarled, diving at Lisa from behind, "I won't let you get away from me again!"

Lisa squeaked as Zara's weight knocked her from behind, forcing her to the floor. Grabbing her hair, she went to scream, god knows what was happening on the other side of the door, but looking around the other girls were still lying prostrate, trapped in their own nightmares and not looking as if they were going to free themselves soon. As she went to scream however, to warn Chloe, she felt the scissors dig into her throat.

"Quiet bitch." Zara snarled. She knew what was going on, looking around, that Mandelson chick was missing. It was all so obvious now."You're all mocking me aren't you...Psyche?"

Lisa's eyes bulged wide "Wh...wh..."

"Quiet." Zara repeated again, poisonously, jabbing the scissors again, harder this time. Just as this happened, the door swung open automatically, revealing Chloe, rubbing her neck, but otherwise fine. Zara's eyes narrowed madly. She understood now; she had been a fool. All the way through this procedure, she had believed that Crane was testing her, seeing if she could truly be worthy. When she'd woken up however, and seen that girl standing, she had realised the obviousness.

"I'm going to die tonight aren't I?" Zara growled at Chloe, the scissors still pinned to Lisa. "You made me believe that if I survived this, I'd join the Scarecrow didn't you? DIDN'T YOU?" Not waiting for an answer however, she continued, glaring at Chloe, "I don't know how you got on with them, was it like a Quinzelle job? Did they take you on in Arkham? Fuck, I went about this all wrong. For years I thought I could just run into your lot and all the time, I should have been going to Arkham...is it some sort of dating agency there with the inmates and doctors?" Zara's eyes were wild, she was furious; damn Psyche, damn this green eyed girl, they were both out to kill her, and goddamn that bastard Crane for not having the balls to do it himself. Looking up at the camera, she snarled at it: "See this Crane? I'm gonna kill your whore, then I'm gonna kill Nygma's. How'dya like that Johnny? How do you like that? NOW DO YOU WISH YOU HAD ACCEPTED MY OFFER NOW?"

It was unbelievable what Chloe was hearing. Had this girl completly lost it? "I've...just been strangled nearly by a madman...and you think I'm in cahoots with them?" She rasped angrily. "You...you're delusional." She snarled, feeling the fire Crane had encouraged in her begin to burn. So many times in the past, this fire had gone ignored, pushed down whilst her parents had screamed abuse at her, so much abuse...looking down at Lisa's terrified face, Chloe for a second, saw herself, only as a child.

"You were one of those children who used to cry in your room alone weren't you?" Crane asked, his fingers arched and resting his chin on them. Chloe had no idea how much she had seen of him now, she'd started forgetting to record things on sheets properly, according to the murmers of the Arkham guards, she was turning up more than the other students on their cases; point is, with Jonathan Crane, she never felt real anymore until their sessions with him guiding her. How did he do that?

Starring into Lisa's terrified eyes, her purple framed glasses askew and long black hair being pulled by the Latino psycho. To Chloe though, she saw not the hairdresser, but her father; always her father, her father pushing her to the floor.

"Tell me Miss Mandelson," Crane posed to her, "statistically, abused and neglected children are more likely to be abusive later on in life. With your very clear case of emotional abuse, what would you do if you saw...say...a person being attacked by someone much more stronger?"

Chloe had faltered when that question had been asked. It wasn't a traditional question and after all, she'd never considered herself to be the subject of emotional abuse, she just thought of her upbringing as a little crap.

"Er..." She had stammered. "Exactly what anybody else would do?"

Now, she understood. Lisa, the girl who had clung to her throughout this experiment, the only one to know what the Couple of Fear were truly like...apart from Rosie who now lay dead a few doors back. Lisa was the only one she could trust now and here Zara was, trying to convince her of the sublime and ridiculous.

"You fucking idiot." Chloe snarled, "First you think I'm in on whatever this is, then you think Lisa's the Mistress of fucking Fear? Look at her, she looks nothing like Psyche." True, Lisa did have a bit of a big nose like Psyche, but Lisa's was more bulbous and fatter. It was so ridiculous an accusation that if one of them wasn't in danger of having her throat cut at this very moment in time, Chloe would definitely have laughed at the ridiculous idiocy coming from this deranged fangirl. Unfortunately, Zara was far past reasonable discussion.

"I'll fucking kill her Johnny! I'll kill her, I'll kill them all!"

In the separate room, Edward who had begun drinking yet another glass of wine sprayed Solora Cabernet Merlot 2004 all over the screens. He had begrudgingly stopped arguing with Crane when this little floor show had begun. He had been so impressed to see that fiery little minx get vicious, but that revelation...that was unbelievable.

"Impossible!" He yelled out at the screen, agreeing with Mandelson, "No way is that Catherine...is it?" His eyes darted back to Crane who had put his mask to the side to sip about his fourth glass of wine. Even without his mask however, he was still unreadable as the point of anything concocted by Simon Cowell. Crane continued sitting there, frozen and unmoveable. Putting his glass down, Jonathan stared straight at the screen.

"Rather unlikely isn't it?" He said smoothly, "You already have the information that she is unconscious in Arkham. I'd be surprised if she had managed to break out really..."

"I only have it on your word that she was left behind." Edward countered, his eyes bright with rage, "I swear Crane, if there is any funny business going on tonight to make a fool out of me..."

"As you can see Edward" Crane looked at him in the eye, starting to look bored. "These subjects are probably more interesting to me than you, look how with a hint of suggestion, this sad fangirl, who I'm afraid to say suffers...a little bit of an infatuation with me..."

"Yeah yeah, I saw the Youtube video." Nygma smirked. Surprising how much fun his iphone gave him (really, it was a gift from his adopted daughter to keep in touch, though he had also discovered the joy of Angry Birds, a game which required mental reasoning to succeed in, which he as the Riddler possessed in spades), being able to see the numerous fanvids this Zara girl had put up of her idol...still "It doesn't explain what's going on does it Crane?" He also mentally noted to call Shyera soon, just to make sure the bat was really out of the way. He needed to see Chloe again.

"Those scissors were put there by me before she woke up." Jonathan explained slowly, more interested in what was happening on the screen, "A syringe to numb the skin on her ankle so that they wouldn't register and an extra pair of socks on her...hmm. It appears numbing gel really does work for 4 hours...Funny really isn't it?" Crane interrupted himself, "A girl who has never met me properly, never spoken to me and really, only knows about me through the media has put me on a pedestal and is willing to kill a random stranger she has met a few hours ago because she wasn't on the floor screaming like the others. Amazing how being different in this little experiment singles you out really isn't it?" He then had to chuckle, "You really shouldn't have done that Edward."

"Do what?" Nygma growled, starting to lose his patience now.

"Why, approach Miss Mandelson. If this girl is about to kill Miss Wheaton on the assumption that she is Catherine simply because she was the only one awake, what will she do to somebody who's just walked back into the room...you didn't give her any weapons did you?" To this, Edward, rather out of character felt like punching the walls.

"Oh what a fool I am!" He cried theatrically, "I should have given her something! I should have..."

"Not become obsessed with somebody you know nothing about?" Crane returned to the screen, "Surprising really, a mind such as yours and yet the only difference between you and that subject down there is that you won't kill anybody who threatens your obsession...still, she is only a subject after all."

"If she dies Crane, you'll be sorry." Edward snarled, rising from his seat. He'd put a stop to this. Crane's arm shot out though, pulling him back down.

"If she's as worthy as we both think, sit back down and let her take out the garbage." Scarecrow snarled menacingly, making a nervous Edward sit back down quicker than the speakers on the walls erupted in fresh new screams from the other room.

WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON?Again, sorry I disappeared, so much has happened! Arkham City came out(with no Crane despite what I expected to happen) and my original baby Psyche has reached over 100 reviews (really need to beta that at some point, that layout really is annoying and not excusable now I can upload properly). Shout outs to all my friends from facebook reading this, Charlotte Marissa and Edward mostly as well as Aileen and anybody else seeing this from my page.

To Shyera for making me write (even when I was busy thankyou very much for the constant bothering missy), but most of all, to the people who've been waiting since December last year, missed you all and was weird not writing. Hope I've gotten back into my stride, but review and let me know what you think. I'm assuming not everybody's high on fear toxin like Zara so they might be able to make a rational decision on what's happening in this chapter.

The title Optophobia is a bit of a play on the actual words, take it to be Fear of Realisation as Zara thinks she's realised what's going on...or has she?

Also! It's been confirmed that Scarecrow is in the next Batman film. I like to spread good news around

Next chapter coming soon!

Artemis out xxxxxxxx