Falling || Scarecrow

Ch.5

Besides her hearting beating faster than normal, she continued walking forward as she followed Jonathan down a cement hallway with four cells on each side. Eight total.

Jonathan motioned to her to look through a slot in one of the doors, and she leaned in to see.

A woman in her late twenties was screaming and creating bloody furrows in her arms with her blood caked nails. She then proceeded to bash her head against the wall, till a huge dent was in her skull. Then she collapsed twitching, and soon was still. Eyes still open, but unseeing.

"Fascinating." She breathed.

Maria was repulsed by the blood and violent behavior, yet it was interesting to see them react to something only they could see.

"Glad to know I'm not the only one." Said Jonathan after a moment.

She looked at him. "So what do you give them to react so violently?"

He sighed. "Normally they're not that extreme in reacting to the fear toxin I inject them with. This experiment was actually a failure, since the patient killed herself."

"So you don't kill them purposely?"

"No. Those cases are accidents. I strive to let people experience their fears, to see how each person reacts. But the side effect is either suicide as you saw, or damaging the mind. But in some cases, the mind resists and it doesn't affect the person hugely and has smaller after effects."

"Like the Batman."

"Exactly. Yet I don't know personally how it affects him after each time I give him a dosage."

"You need something stronger..." She mused. "Adrenaline." She said suddenly. "Adrenaline is the substance secreted by the body in the height of anger, sorrow, fear. Makes you numb, yet aware and able to punch harder. So some of the people you target must have a higher adrenaline rush than others, to make it easier to deal with the fear toxin."

She blushed as he looked at her with an amazed expression. "How did I miss that when I studied psychology..." He muttered. Then looked at her with a new expression. "Are you actually helping me to create a more powerful fear toxin to affect Gotham with?"

Maria fiddled with her hands. "I guess so. Even though I don't know why. Is that why you do it? Because it's a exciting study of the effects of fear when a person is a subject to it?"

He nodded. "And sometimes, just to prove a point." He added.

She nodded too. "Am I an accomplice?" She said suddenly.

"Yes. Well, if you help me."

She smiled. "Of course I will. It's an exciting opportunity that I just can't refuse."

He smiled a small smile in reply. "This way then."

...

They entered a lab that was crowded with vials and beakers, and plastic bags filled with a white powder. She picked one up.

"Is this your fear toxin?" She asked.

He shook his head. "Just an ingredient."

Maria set it back down. She eyed some syringes on the table. "Are you going to ever make me a subject to your toxin, Jonathan?"

He glanced at her. "I've thought about it." He answered truthfully. "But only time will tell."

She nodded and turned to look at him, wishing she was taller for the hundredth time. "What's your last name?" She suddenly asked.

He shifted his glasses up. "Crane."

"My mother had a friend who knew somebody with the last name Crane." She remembered aloud.