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[fearisthegoal]

commissionerjg​:

The SCPD had its own lab, improved in spades recently by some of the gifted Wayne tech, but getting an accurate read of something didn’t always mean it made sense. Certainly not to Jim. He was a damn cop, Commissioner or not, not a scientist. Jim took the papers and bit back a sigh. Did he have time to deal with something that was going to take that much reading? Not really. Still, he wasn’t going to cede control of it completely. He couldn’t do that with anything. At the end of the day, it was his name attached to all of it, him who had made a promise to the city to divest it of as many troubles as he could. 

“It’s some red tape,” he admitted, sitting back down on the other side of his desk, “but there’s always red tape. Give me a couple of days to get the passes in order.” If Crane could at least answer that simple question for him, it’d be a kick off point. If it was the same, they could go from there. Narrow things down. “If you’re sure you can spare the time. You’re a young man, smart, you have to have other things to be doing.” 

“I do keep busy at the asylum,” he said. His new position as associate director was irritatingly demanding, making it difficult for him to engage in his general extracurricular activities as much as he would like to. Still, it was better for him to maintain his cover as best he could and put his work as Scarecrow on the back burner than to bite off too much at once and end up in a big mess. Slow and steady would win the race, and Crane was as patient as they came. “I can always make time, however, to help Star City’s finest. I did the same in Gotham—it makes me feel useful, and I’m glad I can be of assistance.” 

Seeing the way that Jim eyed the report warily, Crane leaned forward slightly. “I can give you an overview of my report, if you would like. It would probably do the most good in the hands of one of the scientists in your forensics unit, but I can give you what will be most beneficial for your work as an investigator.”

[fearisthegoal]

fightbattlesthatmatter​:

“Well… Not really specific… Actually, I guess that’s not true. I’m trying to get my head on straight. See, my partner… Things are rough for Bucky.” He didn’t know if Dr. Crane would know he meant Bucky Barnes. The trial had been widely televised and then there was the Out! cover, but it didn’t mean that everyone knew. “That’s a really long story if you don’t know it, but the short of it is that my partner went through a lot of crap and this past year we got him therapy and hoped that it would be okay. But he started needing things from me that i was trying my hardest to give and I just… don’t have the tools and i was realizing that there were things I had never dealt with myself.”

He blew out a slow breath. “Basically, being with me messed him up so badly that he left me. Left me and left town. Let the whole damn continent last I checked.” Steve shook his head, running his hand over his face. “He says it wasn’t, but I think it’s because I am the way I am. And I tried so hard to help. To fix things. But I guess I never really… fix me, you know?”

///

He nodded, knowing that Steve meant Bucky Barnes. The trial had been a big deal, especially with Gotham’s proximity to New York it had completely dominated the media circus while it was going on. He didn’t realize that Steve had that kind of a relationship with Bucky, but Crane took it in stride, making a note of the relationship on his notepad as Steve spoke. 

“Do you think of yourself as in need of fixing?” he asked, bringing a hand up to his chin and rubbing it lightly as he looked Steve over. Perhaps this would be his in. “As someone who’s broken?” Crane was already thinking of countless ways he could use what little Steve had told him to gain entry to his mind, to manipulate him into what he wanted to see. 

Crane tapped his pen lightly against his notepad and looked down at a note for a moment before looking back up. “It’s interesting that you feel that Bucky may have obscured the truth from you. Do you think that people do that often? Does Bucky?” 

[fearisthegoal]

flamexonxbaby​:

“No. No, it wasn’t…like that. Not like it is now.” And it had been tied entirely to that three day period of lost time. It’s not like he’d woken up wet or even anywhere near the water, despite being on an island, so he’d never been able to make any sense of it. So long had passed that if any memories were going to come back on their own to explain it, it seemed like they should have already, but it wasn’t like he was some kind of doctor. What’d he know? Just that something was messed up and it didn’t seem to be going anywhere.

Even though he was there purely by choice, having tried his usual method of just ignoring something until he forgot about it or it mattered less, the whole idea of such a long process was kind of terrifying all on its own. He’d never done anything like that. Maybe he should have, but the problems he had never really felt like they went beyond what other superheroes probably felt, or even people with the ordinary kind of celebrity status. Johnny pressed his lips together and nodded after a short pause. “Right. I’m not sure which one to be hoping for,” he answered with a humorless little huff of laughter. 

///

Crane nodded thoughtfully, taking a few more notes on his notepad before he tapped his pen against his lips. He was already considering ways he could amplify the fear—people were so gullible, they would listen to anything a doctor said to them, as if there was no way a doctor could do anyone any harm. Of course, like all doctors, Crane had taken the Hippocratic Oath, but he wasn’t all that interested in maintaining it. To him, it had just been a set of words—and sometimes, in the name of science, promises had to be broken and people had to be guinea pigs. 

He leaned forward slightly. “How does that make you feel? Knowing that something might be physically wrong?” He paused. “Or, knowing that something might not be?” He paused again. “I know that these feelings might be confusing, so try your best to explain them to me in as much detail as you would like, even if you’re not sure it will make a lot of sense.” Crane gave him a reassuring smile and leaned back in his seat again, settling in and smoothing down his tie lightly—blue, for he had heard somewhere that blue evoked a sense of trustworthiness, and he needed all the help he could get in that area.

[fearisthegoal]

ibroughtanarsenal​:

Experimental treatment. What. Some of Roy’s uncertainty faded when Dr. Crane clarified that it didn’t involve medication. In his experience, that was something that never ended well. Experimental therapy, though? There didn’t seem to be a whole lot of harm that could come from that. It wasn’t as if he couldn’t use it, especially after the events of the past couple months. “I take it day by day. Some days are harder than others.” He didn’t shy away from the hard truth, even though it was difficult to admit he still had days when he struggled. 

“Won’t hurt, right? Sure, I’ll be a guinea pig. Just name the time and place.” 

///

Excellent. It was exactly the kind of response he was looking for, someone open and willing to try something different, who wouldn’t be too alarmed at the “experimental” nature of the treatment. Crane pressed his lips together for a moment, rummaging around in his pockets before he found one of his business cards. “Why don’t you give my office a call, and we can set up an appointment,” he replied. “It was nice to meet you, Roy. I hope that we can get some good work done together.”

[fearisthegoal]

egologist​:

purely research. got it. ed affirmed his understanding with a quick downwards nod of his head, grimace clear to see. it wouldn’t have been an exaggeration to say the things crane spoke of were tempting, but he kept his thoughts to himself. it wasn’t that the life he lived now was anywhere near as fulfilling as thoughts of the past, but this was … safe. 

leaning in, ed lets his hair get wet with the rain, hands coming together clasped at his chest. “one way or another, it sounds like you’re still enjoying yourself,” he begins. “i’m… working in tech, you know. tech… support. one of the online specialists for when people fuck up and install a ton of viruses on their computer?” ed sighs, turning to glance at jonathan. “have you kept in touch with anyone?”

///

it was disarming, to see edward this way. it was different than what crane had been used to, different than the wickedly smart edward he had come to know back in gotham city. it was sad, really, to see his intellect being so poorly used these days. crane made it a goal of his own in that moment to bring edward back to more interesting and important work. 

“tech support?” crane paused. “how...” he paused again. “droll.” certainly a misuse of edward’s talents if crane was to be asked, but of course, no one was asking him. he pressed his lips together for a moment. “would you like to come see my lab sometime? i think you might find it of some interest.”

[fearisthegoal]

[ @justicealwaysprevails liked for a starter! ]

While Crane had never come in direct contact with Batman, his plans had been foiled more than once by one of Batman’s ridiculous showdowns in Gotham. Always needing to steal the spotlight, Crane was tired of Batman’s antics. He wanted to find a way to put him out of business for good. 

Fear, he found, was a great way to break someone’s spirit. 

So, he dosed someone wearing Batman gear, knowing that when they were in trouble and afraid, there was one name they would call out. Help, Batman, help! Crane put on his Scarecrow mask, fitting the filter inside over his nose and mouth so that the gas wouldn’t affect him (not because he couldn’t handle it, but because he wanted to be lucid for this moment) and waited.

[fearisthegoal]

[ @jxnxstvrsmvr liked for a starter! ]

Crane knew he was going to start garnering the wrong kinds of attention if he kept dosing people like this, but it was almost too easy. In a city where people were looking out for brute force and costumed villains, no one was looking at the thin man in a dark suit who just seemed to be going to and from work and keeping his head down. It was both to his advantage and to his detriment.

Even though he knew this was going to cause even more attention on the random dosings that had been happening across the city, he couldn’t help but want to see what would happen if he got a man like Jono Starsmore truly afraid—or if he even could. It was a strange notion, to think about how the internal mechanics of the man’s body worked, and Crane wanted nothing more than to get inside.

He brought the toxin in a little syringe, knowing that there was only a small space where he could make an injection, and he did so carefully, with precision, pressing the plunger down against Jono’s temple. 

[fearisthegoal]

drdoxie​:

.

June’s work and her research could change the world. She’d intended it to in the beginning. She’d looked at her future and seen Nobel Prizes, an endless well of research grants, the end to so many diseases that humanity had failed to fully understand, let alone cure, for centuries. And yet, there they were, with the world still steeped in genetic flaws that she could have already corrected, all for the sake of morality. Was it not worse, she’d often wondered, to sentence so many to twisted lives of pain and even death when she’d offered answers? Was that not committing a greater crime than the few eggs she’d needed to crack in order to obtain them? But it didn’t matter anymore. She was not out to help the world. It could rot around her.

“The nervous system is a difficult thing to crack into without a live subject. What are the odds of coming across one of those?” How many Kryptonians were there? Less than half a dozen, as far as she was aware. While June was occasionally prone to a good delusion of grandeur or two, she wasn’t so sure that even she believed they’d land Superman on one of their exam tables. Yet the proposal was intriguing enough for her to consider it anyway. “Kryptonite. It weakens them?” There was no one quite so superhuman as the Supers, was there? They would need something to lessen that.

///

Jonathan’s work—his published work, at least—didn’t nearly show the extent of what he was capable of. It was clear to anyone who read his papers that he was far more intelligent than they showcased (clear, at least, to those looking for it) and that was how June had found him. Crane didn’t think of Nobel prizes or mass recognition. His work was his own and it was for his own scientific curiosity and benefit that he looked into fear. Everything else was just a cover to make sure he could continue on with his work in the shadows without fear of repercussions. 

“Slim,” he replied, shaking his head slightly. It was going to be difficult to crack, that was for sure, and they weren’t going to have chances at a live subject to test on until the date that they were going to do whatever Joker was planning, and it was enough to make Jonathan wary. Perhaps he wouldn’t be able to do this job, perhaps it was beyond him. He didn’t want it to be. He was determined to give it his full attention for however long it took to crack the code. 

He nodded. “It does,” he replied. “If we can figure out how it does, perhaps we can use that to our benefit in developing the toxin,” he replied. “It may be easier than going directly to the source to find out more about their physiology.” 

[fearisthegoal]

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[fearisthegoal]

kryptoniansteel​:

@fearisthegoal

Whether he was on an official patrol or not, Clark was always listening. Superman had been in Star City plenty long enough for people to know it, and while it was nothing compared to the frequency it happened in Metropolis, he’d started to hear his name again. People would call out for him. After spending years after the ban no longer answering those calls, something he’d spend the rest of his life regretting, he refused to miss a single other one. Not if he could help it. 

The call he answered that night hadn’t been for him, specifically. There was no Superman in front of the loud shriek of, “Help!” but he turned midflight and changed course to answer it all the same. In seconds, he landed in the park between a little cluster of trees that seemed to look larger than normal in the at dusk when the shadows were long. A woman was cowering beneath one of them, covering her head, still screaming.

“Ma’am…” he tried, his cape settling down behind him once his feet were on the ground. As soon as he approached, she recoiled even more, placing herself almost entirely behind the tree. Clark could see a small group of people gathered nearby, one of whom seemed to be calling 911. He could hear the operator on the other end of the line.

Clark called out to one of them, a man who seemed transfixed on the scene (out of concern, he assumed). “Did you see anything? Anything before this?” For the life of him, he couldn’t figure out the source of her panic.

Jonathan had been testing his toxin on unsuspecting civilians for a long time now, ever since he was in Gotham, working for Arkham Asylum. He had always enjoyed it, always found it exhilarating to see how fear would contaminate someone’s mind, how he could use that fear to manipulate people and how he could use it to stop them in their tracks. Fear was the most interesting thing to Jonathan—the goal at the end of all his research, the one thing he desired more than anything else. 

“Um—” He looked up at Superman, and immediately put on a shocked demeanor, as if he was watching in abject horror. “I, uh—I’ve been working—I—” He paused, shaking his head. “I’ve been working on similar cases for the GCPD and SCPD. I—I think this is the same person who has been injecting people with an unknown substance. Something that causes fear.” He licked his lips, looking down for a moment and looking back up. “I should have stopped this. She looks terrified.” He put on a good show of sympathy. 

“I don’t know how long it lasts or how to stop it.” Of course, he did, but he wasn’t going to say that to Superman. “I have been trying to figure out what’s in the compound, but it’s tricky.” He paused again. “I’m Dr. Jonathan Crane,” he added. “I’m an associate director at the asylum.” This was his in. If he could ingratiate himself as a key member of the investigation, perhaps he could get close enough to Superman to learn more about his physiology and be able to hone his fear toxin.

[fearisthegoal]

END

fearisthegoal​:

///

“It can easily be given in an aerosolized form. If you are looking to dose someone with Kryptonian physiology, it will most likely be easier to administer via gas.” He paused. “I doubt a hypodermic syringe would be easily inserted into a Kryptonian epidermal layer,” he added thoughtfully, his head cocked to the side as if he was running through the scenario in his head before he seemed to return from his little trance into the conversation at hand. He pressed his lips together behind the mask, wondering for a brief moment if teaming up with Joker would be something he regretted. 

However, as quickly as the thought came, it passed. As long as Joker was willing to dispense his toxin, Crane was willing to supply it—he didn’t care who Joker dosed, even if it was Crane himself. Crane had tested his toxin on himself a number of times, anyway. “Yes, I would. Very much.” 

“That was my thought exactly. I don’t want to have to deal with throwing together a needle that’ll pierce the Superskin. Whatever else you need, I can make it happen. I have a personal investment and we have to make sure our leading idiot is all set to say his lines and follow his stage directions.” He shook his head before grinning manically. “There’s gonna be fireworks, Scary. Trust me on that.” “Done and done. If you pull this off, Scary, then we’re gonna be on a whole new level with these normies.” Then he could have his kid back, his girl back, and everything would be back to normal and he could focus on the one person who really got his mind singing. Batman. “I think we’re all set here. You’re a busy man now. Lots to do. I’ll check in a couple of weeks.”

[fearisthegoal]

flamexonxbaby​:

“I don’t know if it was a phobia before. I mean…I guess it was a fear, but not like this. It seemed like a normal thing. Most people are afraid of, I don’t know, drowning, right? Double it when your most useful quality is turning into a fireball.” He’d never given it that much thought until after the incident, at which point he’d started to have days where he couldn’t stand to even step into a shower. That wasn’t normal anymore. 

At the suggestion that it might be an actual medical problem, Johnny swallowed. Was that better or worse? At least if it was just something his own body had cooked up, the paranoia aspect of it might cease a little. Still, that wasn’t too much comfort. “Right. I guess that…makes sense. I can do that. But uh,” he looked away from the doctor for a moment and chewed at the inside of his cheek again. “What if that’s not it? What if the scans come back clean? Then what?” 

He paused, tilting his head thoughtfully as he listened to Johnny. “Yes, it is completely natural to have some fear of drowning. I guess what I want to know is if you felt that your fear of drowning and water was disproportionate to the amount of risk that it poses you.” Crane could practically feel the fear rolling off Johnny in waves, the fear that there was something wrong with him, the fear that there was something that couldn’t be fixed. It was intoxicating. 

Crane forced himself to remain in the present, however, and he kept his face impassive. “If it isn’t a physical problem, then we will have to start exploring psychological reasons why you might be losing time. It could be any number of things, such as a manic or depressive episode, but that would take a few more sessions and some more diagnostic tests.”

[fearisthegoal]

egologist​:

///

an associate director … at the asylum. that was just peachy, wasn’t it? ed barely stifled a humorless laugh at the prospect of jonathan being up to a few of his old tricks again – although he only got to see what might as well have been a sneak peek of the scarecrow, he bathed in how utterly stimulating for the brain it was to be in the presence of someone who, at the very least, had an intellectual proficiency higher than that of these… goldfish.

edward scolded himself. what undesirable thoughts to be having, hm? instead, he sticks to small talk. business talk. talk that won’t get him institutionalized. that’s the good kind of talk. the digestible kind.

“i take it you couldn’t bear to leave those endeavors of yours behind?  … i make you weak at the worst of times, keep you safe and keep you fine. i make your hands sweat and your heart grow cold. i visit the weak, but seldom the bold …”

“still not scared, crane?”

///

crane couldn’t help the smirk that lifted at his lips. “the scientific curiosity overcame me,” he replied. “i need something to keep me going through these long, dull hours with these...unremarkables.” something that crane and edward had in common was that they both were so much smarter than the general population that they found it difficult to remain among them without the boredom taking over. this, at least, kept the boredom at bay. 

he wondered if edward was up to any of his old tricks, but by the way he seemed to be behaving, he was fairly certain that the other man was jonesing for a fix of his old habits. crane pitied him for that. 

“fear,” he replied. “the answer is fear.” he smiled, somewhat maliciously at edward. “oh, i’m never afraid,” he replied. “that’s purely research, you see.” 

[fearisthegoal]

james-gordon-jr​:

-

There hadn’t been much information on Dr. Crane. JJ looked. He liked to know anything and everything about the psychologists and psychiatrists looking to turn him inside out. Most of them had their own tactics. Dr. Johnson enjoyed talking his childhood to death. A lot of his methods were so clearly Freudian despite his denial of antiquated methods. JJ was quick to learn just how hypocritical people could be when they were so thoroughly convinced of their self-righteousness. It also made them predictable.

“Dr. Johnson told me he would be leaving the city. Good for him. I know how much he wanted the position at Arkham,” he commented idly as he followed Dr. Crane into his office. As he went over what their first session would be, JJ took a seat in the stiff armchair against the wall. “Have at it, doc. I know the routine.”

///

Jonathan nodded. “Yes, I gave him the recommendation for that position. I spent a few years of my own career at Arkham Asylum—it’s certainly a reputable institution.” Jonathan sat down and crossed his legs, his usual posture during appointments, and made a note of where JJ decided to sit in the room. There were a few different seats, and usually each told him something about the patient that sat in them. The armchair meant that JJ was controlled, and perhaps controlling. Crane was certain JJ would try to pull one over on him. He rubbed his jaw thoughtfully. 

“So, tell me. What brought you to Dr. Johnson in the first place?” he asked, opening his leather folio and flipping his legal pad to a clean page as he marked down the session date and patient number—he never used names in his notes—before looking back up at JJ. 

[fearisthegoal]

fightbattlesthatmatter​:

Steve nodded, settling down on the couch and sitting facing Jonathan. His baby blue gaze flitted around the office, which looked fairly innocuous. He kept his face straight but noted the print of the Mondrian in the corner. Awful. He was going to get distracted if he focused on it too much, so he fixed his gaze on Dr. Crane. 

“Sounds good,” he answered. “I’ve never done this really. The army gave me a psych eval in the 40s and then I had another through SHIELD when they first brought me out of the ice. Other than that, my partner’s former therapist had a few sessions where she talked about things with me, but it wasn’t like my own appointment.” He shrugged. “So I’ve got no idea what to expect here. Very little basis for comparison.” He gave a weak little smile, trying to feel comfortable in his skin.

///

Crane nodded and gave a reassuring smile. “I assure you, it will be quite painless,” he replied before letting out a small huff of laughter. “So tell me, in as much detail as you would like, what brought you to therapy. Is there a specific incident that made you come in? Perhaps something about your own behavior or moods that has been concerning you?” 

Already eager to know more, Crane adjusted his posture slightly and sat near the edge of his seat, his legs crossed tightly and his hand up to rub at his jaw thoughtfully. Usually, he was much better at hiding his intrigue, but it wasn’t every day that an all-American hero came in for a session with him. It was enough to make him excited about therapy again, make him look forward to coming into this office of his rather than his laboratory in the basement of the asylum. He forced his face to remain neutral. 

[fearisthegoal]

giggles-and-glocks​:

“You’ll have your month,” Joker said. “There are still some loose ends I’m tying up to present my little gift to him all wrapped up in a little bow.” He cocked his head, considering. “Is the needle the only way to dispense it?” They’d need a hell of a needle to Mr Steel himself. If it could be an aerosol, so much the better. He was already thinking of ways to play that game, too. He had been designing the show for a while, but there were missing pieces that he was hoping Batsy or one of his birds would help him find, courtesy of Red X. Of course, he’d need that job finished sooner rather than later. Perhaps a little pressure put on him to emphasize that Joker was only patient when it suited him.

“I assume you’ll want front row seats to the show I’m producing? And as an… artistic contributor of sorts, it’s only fair.”

///

“It can easily be given in an aerosolized form. If you are looking to dose someone with Kryptonian physiology, it will most likely be easier to administer via gas.” He paused. “I doubt a hypodermic syringe would be easily inserted into a Kryptonian epidermal layer,” he added thoughtfully, his head cocked to the side as if he was running through the scenario in his head before he seemed to return from his little trance into the conversation at hand. He pressed his lips together behind the mask, wondering for a brief moment if teaming up with Joker would be something he regretted. 

However, as quickly as the thought came, it passed. As long as Joker was willing to dispense his toxin, Crane was willing to supply it—he didn’t care who Joker dosed, even if it was Crane himself. Crane had tested his toxin on himself a number of times, anyway. “Yes, I would. Very much.” 

[fearisthegoal]

flamexonxbaby​:

That was the problem, really. He’d not been able to trace it to anything. He’d never been able to even get close to what seemed like the root of anything or where it came from. He listened to the sound of the pen move across the paper and chewed at the inside of his cheek, wondering if he was poking a sleeping bear that he should just leave alone. He really just wanted it gone though. He wanted to be able to shed all of the weird crap that both he and Peter had had to deal with for the last year and be done with it, so he took a breath and just said what he could remember.

“I was coming back home after a film shoot that happened outside the city. This was back when NOVA still had the checkpoint for people entering and leaving.” Johnny ran a hand back through his hair and sat forward a little in his chair. “That’s it, really. I remember getting to the checkpoint, and three days later I woke up on the side of the road nowhere near it.” He didn’t remember anything going badly there, or anything about it at all. The car had approached it and then he had a days-long period of blankness. 

Crane took a few more notes on his legal pad. “And these phobias. Would you say that they were pre-existing phobias that have been elevated, or something entirely new?” If they were new, they wouldn’t have as strong of a hold in Johnny’s mind, but if they were elevated from already existing fears that Johnny had, Crane was certain he would be able to push them to their maximum limit, have Johnny shaking in his boots at all times and make him unable to function. Now that...that would be something to see. 

He wet his lips lightly and shifted his posture in his chair. “I will be honest with you. I find that memory loss to be quite concerning. I think it would be beneficial for you to undergo a CT scan to check for any abnormalities. I’m going to refer you to a clinic where you can get scanned, and they will send the results directly to me if that is something you’re willing to do.” With the authoritative way Jonathan spoke, he was certain that Johnny would do whatever he asked.