DC Adventures presents: The Batman, Vol. 1

Issue 2: Formidophobia

Just outside of Gotham city limits, there was the old Pollock house. It was once the home Charles Pollock, until his death in the 1920s. Since then, it has laid abandoned, sitting on a hill in a plain. Recently there had been a scientist named Jonathan Crane, who was believed to have worked for the Falcone family. He had run away from Carmine Falcone’s organization and had taken sanctuary in the abandoned house. Batman parked outside and studied the house. With no sign of traps, he headed into the house.

What Batman did not know was that Crane had been afraid that Sionis would come after him. His paranoia had him set up a trap. Once Batman opened the door, a device was triggered and sprayed the vigilante. He coughed and tried to regain his composure. The surroundings seemed distorted, meaning what he inhaled was something that affected perception. His motor functions were not affected. He looked around

His hearing was also altered, as the simple sound of footsteps boomed from the distance. It soon became known how much of an effect the drug had on him. Out of a doorway came a tall and lean demonic creature slightly resembling a scarecrow. It had a ragged cloak and a face made of cloth with fiery eyes and a fanged mouth. Within one hand, it held a long scythe. The monster looked at Batman.

“Who are you,” it asked with a demonic voice. “Why are you here?”

“Crane,” Batman could only guess.

“Did Carmine send you,” its tone got more fearful and angrier. “Well, I’m not dying without a fight.” The monster swings his scythe at Batman, who dodges it. He throws some Batarangs at it, but they never hit the creature. “You’ll never catch me.” Crane vanishes into a colony of bats. Now Batman had to search through the house to find Crane.

Meanwhile, in the city, Jason Todd was training at a gym. He was boxing with another patron. An older man walks in and approaches the ring as Jason delivers the knockout punch. He then wipes his blood from the corner of his mouth. Jason then looks at the old man. “Hey, dad.”

Soon they sit together on a bench. The dad tells Jason with a smirk, “Your mother wouldn’t like seeing you damage that pretty face.”

Jason had a slightly annoyed look on his face. “Get to the point, dad.”

He sighed. “Look, I’m sorry for what I said.”

“You said she’d be alive if it weren't for me.”

“I was in grief.”

Jason got suddenly upset and shouted, “So was I!” He gets up and storms off.

Returning to the Pollock house, Batman wandered through the hallways. The walls were decorated in old paintings, some torn. He looked at each of them and he could swear that the people in them were moving. Out of nowhere, those inside the paintings reached out and held the vigilante. He struggled but could not escape them. He closed his eyes for a split second and his surroundings changed.

Batman now stood in a bleak and filthy alley. It was dimly lit and rats scurried around his feet. In the distance, he saw three people enter the alley, two adults and one child. This is when it dawned on him. This was Crime Alley. This was the day his parents died. What happened next were three flashes of light, each followed by a bang. His parents now laid dead on the ground. He looked at his hands, finding the smoking gun in them. Shocked, he is quick to drop it. He holds his head. The surroundings change back to a normal hallway. There were no living paintings and no dead parents. Batman was now filled with rage and continued his search for Crane.

His attempts lead him to a room full of scientific equipment. It had to be Crane’s makeshift laboratory. He searches and finds some vials. Most were orange, but some were light blue. He picks up the light blue vial. As he studied it, he heard the Crane monster shout, “No!” The vigilante found himself shoved against the wall. Crane was too slow to stop Batman from using the serum on himself. He gathered from Crane’s reaction that it was an antidote.

Soon Batman’s perception began to change back to normal. He stopped seeing Crane as a scarecrow monster. Now he was just an ordinary man wearing a gas mask decorated with a cloth. Batman put a foot on Crane’s abdomen and kicked him off of him. He then punched him in the face, breaking a lense.

Crane begged, “wait! Wait! Don’t kill me!”

The vigilante held him by the collar and aggressively asked him, “What is your connection to the Falcone family?!”

“T-they forced me to give them fear toxin to make their enemies afraid. Carmine threatened to kill me if I went to the police. One day I escaped and came here.”

“Is that you kill those seven members of the Falcone family?!”

“Wait, what?! They’re dead?! No! I was only planning to make enough of my fear toxin for the Falcone family to spend the rest of their lives in terror.” Batman removed Scarecrow’s mask and tossed it to the ground. “It’s the truth!” With one punch to the face, Crane was knocked out. Within the hour, he was left outside the Gotham Police Department.

Meanwhile, at Arkham Asylum, a young woman exits the facility. A dark red car pulls up to the front gates and she got in the front passenger seat. The driver was Jared Kipp. He turns to her, showing a dark bruise on his left cheek, and smiles softly. She looks concerned.

“What happened,” the woman asked, placing one hand on the wounded side of his face. “Did he do this to you?”

“You know he has a funny way of showing his love,” Kipp chuckled softly.

“Jared, this is serious.”

He lost his smile. “I know, but being with you makes it bearable, Harley.” He shares a tender kiss with her.