Philophobia [Dr. Jonathan Crane]

Atelophobia

Atelophobia~Fear of Imperfection

Dr. Hugo Strange placed his briefcase on the chair and locked the door to his home.

He stepped into his living room and the lamp turned on. Darcy was lounging on an armchair.

"Dr. Strange. What a very weird name. Not the name of a man I would trust," she said.

He tensed. "How did you get in here?"

A huge grin spread across her face and she laughed. "My dear doctor, I am a wanted criminal. Does that seem like an intelligent question to you?"

His lips tightened and he slowly reached for his phone. A hand shot out and grasped his wrist. Strange spun to face the smiling face of Victor Zsasz, who wiggled his pointed finger in a scowlding way.

"I'm afraid we can't have that." He threw Strange's phone and forced him into a chair.

"You see," Darcy said, "I have spent the past few hours looking through all your top secret files and listening to your tapes. I can't seem to find the part where you psychoanalyse Ra's Al Ghul. That is why you're helping him, isn't it? A fascination of people like us. We're little science projects to you . . . Nonetheless I need you to tell me everything you know about Ghul."

"And if I don't?"

Darcy chuckled and snapped her fingers. Oswald limped in with a machine in hand. He placed it on the table.

"Then we're gonna have a hell of a night!" Darcy yelled, with a crazed look in her eyes.

"How do I know you'll release me once I've given you information? I tell you, I lose my only bargaining chip."

Darcy leaned forward, her hands on the chairs arms. "You're a logical man, Dr. Strange. Let's look at this from a logical point of view. You tell me and you have a good chance of us walking out of here with you unharmed. You don't . . . and you will piss us killers off. And if you do that, you will be beaten to a pulp. And then it won't be about who knows what." Her face was inches from his now. "It'll be about who I wanna kill more. And unlike Ghul, you're sitting right in front of me." She quickly smiled and pulled away, leaning back. "Completely up to you!"

He blinked a couple times before inhaling deeply. "The water. It's Gothams supply system. You poison it and you create chaos. And chaos leads to destruction."

"Where is he?" Dary snapped.

"I don't know."

Oswald unhooked the helmet of the machine and Strange began to panic. "I swear! We meet around China Town or Brooklyn, he switches it up. Sometimes I meet a representative for him."

There was a long silence til Darcy nodded. "Alright, let's go, boys. Tell Ghul about this and we'll be back for you."

Oswald smacked him over the head and Strange fell to the ground, unconscious.

"I'll send Fish and Freeze to check out those places," Oswald said.

"Thank you," Darcy said. "Keep me updated."

It was midnight when Darcy got home and she curled up in bed, exhausted. Her phone rang and the worried voice of Harley came on.

"Dar . . . it's Harley. I need ya to come over to J and I's. We visited Johnny and . . . his place was trashed. He's okay, physically. But mentally . . . He ain't doin' good. He needs ya, Darcy. I think you're the only one that can silence the voices in his head. That can dance with his devils."