#he can’t decided if he should spray him with fear toxin

[iphoenixrising]

How do you think the boys will react to Dr Tim in fear gas (like full dose of it)??

Hi babe.

I’ve said it before, but ah. Be careful what you wish for, heh. 

But no, really hasn’t poor Dr. Tim been through enough? Guy has already narrowly escaped collapsing bridges, been up close and personal with the Joker, fought off Scarecrow’s goons, AND was smack dab in the middle of an honest-to-God Arkham Riot.Now we’re going to just get him all up in some fear toxin? Good Lord, can the man get a break? He hasn’t had some smut in a while tbh. (winks over to chippon)

BUT.

WARNINGS FOR: 

Mentions of child abuse 

Mentions of gore, blood, grossness 

You will be crying by the end. Guaranteed. 

Extreme mental and emotional HURT 

Tim’s fears are Jesus-Fucking-Christ level bad 

You’ve been warned :D

**

He’s not even back to work yet after that ambulance wreck, still feels the road rash, pulled muscles, and residual owfuck from a little rough and tumble time at Arkham Asylum. 

But, he’s in a convenience store for fuck’s sake because Jay wouldn’t let him have coffee this morning (nah, Sweets. Ya ain’t godda get up yet. Jus’ go back ta sleep wid’ me, yeah? We’re gonna stay here all warm n’ snug. Sshh. I gotcha, Timmy), and he’d managed to wrangle himself out of Jay’s arms when he woke up again, found out there’s only enough grounds for a shitty, weak pot, and Tim can’t even stand the thought of it.

Unfortunately, he gets a whole lot of random bad guys stopping in for those terrible hot dogs and road drinks on their way out of Gotham.

(Crane looks just as horrifying as he remembers from the hospital that one time, and Tim fervently hopes, hopes none of these henchmen recognize him in a beat-up hoodie and saggy sweatpants.)

What makes matters worse?

Crane isn’t even trying to be, you know, an evil villain.

There’s a put-upon sign behind the mask, and the fear gas comes out of nowhere, getting everyone in the store because the guy just doesn’t want to deal with civilians right this moment. He missed the break-out and decided to have a party all on his own, but he hasn’t even gotten the time to get the plan for his next evil scheme ready yet.

So he raises a hand and sprays a little gas to keep people from being lucid enough to call the cops and rat him out. He needs some time for a good getaway.

Tim, however, sees the inevitable coming and is frozen to the spot, can’t get his weak knees to unlock so he can at least try to duck. Instead, he gets it full in the face.

In a sweep, Crane sprays the small store as his henchmen drop a $20 in front of the coughing clerk and take off back out the door. Hotdogs and all.

Tim scrabbles for his phone, the noxious cloud makes his eyes water, his lungs fucking burn on the first choked, shocked breath. Even when he tries to hold his breath, he’s too terrified, knees going out just as he thumbs the screen behind his back.  

“Timmy?” is tinny and far away while he tries to at least breath shallow, eyes dart to the door, his brain tuned into the whole get out and away before the inevitable happens.

He’s got to get to Jay, he’s got to get out of here and get to someone. If he starts talking while hepped up on fear gas, he could give away everyone’s secrets. He could tell random strangers who everyone really is, he could tell anyone their weaknesses, he could put everyone in danger.

Building blocks. If he can get to a lab, to Steph’s, back to his penthouse, anywhere not here, he can probably crack the building blocks of the toxin before it takes him over completely.

He doesn’t even hear, “Baby? Ya there? Didja butt dial again? Thought I tol’ ya ta stay in bed with me, yeah?”

Not with the door right there.

All he has to do is make his weak knees fucking work, ignore the burn in his lungs, his brain, his eyes teary with the cloud still thick around him, with the abrupt slam of his heart in his chest, with the sudden shadows in the niches that hadn’t been there before.

He just has to get to that fucking door. Has to be able to run.

Tim manages to mostly get there before the screaming starts.

**

Dick is working the day shift in the uniform when word Crane struck come over the wire.

Whenever it’s one of the big bads, he gets close enough to get the details before handily disappearing to slip into something a little more comfortable.

(He knows his ass is spectacular in the Nightwing suit.)

A boop from his pocket is his Batcomm notification, and he pops it in just as he dips into the men’s room with a plan to get out one of the usual windows.

“We’ve got Crane on the move, O. Might want to drop B a line.”

“Already aware, Boy Wonder. It’s more severe than you realize.” His phone goes off as Dick is shimmying out the window and up the building where he keeps a spare suit in a nice waterproof bag hidden in the overhang.

When he checks whatever oh shit is added to a potentially deadly scene, he’s got a text from Jay and a picture from O.

Surveillance footage from inside a convenience store where Crane evidently attacked some civilians. His breath catches when one of the faces turned away to try avoiding the gas is–

Timmy.

“Fuck,” is a little breathless with a very different kind of fear, and Dick immediately turns it up a notch, throwing his suit on and slapping a domino over his eyes. “What can you tell me, O?”

Quick check on what he’s got to work with.

“B and Rob are already in pursuit. Signal is approaching to assist. As far as we can tell, this is the only place Crane managed to hit. Everyone’s mostly been accounted for by GCPD.”

“I sense a but coming–” and he checks his phone two seconds before time to fly, and the text from Jay is something about Tim and screaming, and now he won’t pick up the phone...

“O?” Because dread strikes him in the chest.

“He’s the only civilian missing. He must have already taken off before the patrol car got there.”

“He was hit with fear gas, and he took off?”

The jumpline is already in his hand before he even hits the edge of the roof at a run. It’s go time.

So, it’s a race to find Tim, all doped up on fear toxin and probably tripping out of his mind in one of the most dangerous cities in America where people like the Joker and Two-Face might hold a grudge.

Jason was already suited up before he sent that text to Dickie, was outta there when the sounds came over the line, the familiar screams. It’s a particular flavor of terror spelled out that Timmy, was probably in trouble.

He hits up O with the deets while Nightwing hits the almost-night, making the first swing fucking count.

**

The world alters and shift around him, almost throwing him off his feet more than once.

He’s already completely lost his sense of direction, trying to keep his eyes closed in a last ditch effort to keep the hallucinations at bay.

(It’s just chemicals fucking with your brain. You can beat this. It’s not real. None of it is real. You know that. You know it’s just–

Brick under his fingertips, abrading the sensitive skin. Stumbles over a curb, and the loud whonkkkkk almost rips a surprised yip out of him. Tim cracks his eyes open, heart picking up when the yellow lights look like the porch light from the Johnson’s house–

– before they brought him back.

“He’s…a special child. He needs more than we can give him–”

“He can’t get along with the other children, so I’m afraid–”

“Well, you see. Mary is pregnant! It’s-it’s a miracle, and we like Tim, really we do–“

Tim grits his teeth, hears so much wahwahwah than anyone really talking, telling him to get the hell out of the street, what is he thinking?

But instead of a shadow of a motorist that had pretty much almost run him over, all he can see is Detective Gordon, way back when he’d been the one to come to the Drake’s manor and give him the news.

His mom and dad weren’t coming back, not ever.

“N-No,” he whimper screams, slamming his eyes closed, and takes off again. It’s a full tilt run, every person he meets with someone else’s face.

Michael McCannon, the guy that beat the shit out of his foster kids.

Lilly Wright, wanted the income from having a foster in her house, didn’t care if he went to school, if he slept, if he ate, if he was dead in a gutter because he fell off a roof running after–

He smacks his palms into brick, scraping his face, turns and there’s Tony Stark back when he’d first met. Intimidating and imposing, eyes narrowed in distaste.

He runs faster, only half recognizes the buildings as he goes. He knocks into someone, eats face in an alley, panting and sweating, eyes full of tears, brain on fucking fire.

“Drake!” Hissed from the shadows, the darkness parting for red, gold, and green.

But it’s too much red, too much red.

“N-no, nonono,” and now he’s outright sobbing, scrabbling to his feet because Dami, Dami, is in a ragged, torn tunic, skin broken and blood fucking pouring out of him.

He’s got both hands on the vigilante, brain failing him, spitting out the mortality rate of being run the fuck through.

“No, no, no Dami, Dami,” he’s pressing on the worst wound, tears streaming down his face, babbling incoherently, apologizing, begging this kid, the little brother he should have had, not to fucking die and leave him too.

Robin, laying where the doctor had apparently thrown him, is staring up in shock, hands on Drake’s forearms where he’s pressing at some imaginary wound.

“Don’t die, Dami. Stay with me! Please stay with me!” Is fairly screamed in the cold night.

And Robin catches his breath at this, this, as one of Drake’s worst fears.

“D-Don’t leave me. I can’t lose you. I-I can’t lose you, too.” Tim weeps, pulling both hands back, staring down at what must see as blood and viscera.

“I am sorry, Timothy,” Robin breathes out hoarsely, frees a hand to pull back, teeth clenched against what he’s about to do, and punches their doctor with real intent.

As he hopes, Tim goes down like a stone, unconscious on the dirty ground, tears still on his face from terror and grief.

In a breath, Robin is on his feet, kneeling over Drake, tapping the comm in his ear. “Hood, N, Father. I have located him. He has been…affected. I am uncertain if the anti-toxin in my belt would do further harm, so I have not administered it as of yet.”

“Rob,” Hood’s response is immediate, “Big Wing’s with Daddy Bat takin’ care a’ the last of ‘em.  I’m headin’ atcha now.”

“Meet me at the Black Bird. Hurry,” Robin cuts off, and gently, oh so gently for his normal, lifts Tim’s upper body against his chest, points a gauntlet at the roof to fire the jump line, reel them both in.

At sixteen, the youngest vigilante has nearly outgrown the doctor, and has no trouble lifting Tim up to carry him across the roof, occasionally looking down to make sure Tim is still out.

His own vehicle, the Black Bird, is hidden close to a safe house for the Bats. Balancing Tim in his arms, he taps his utility belt, the container hiding the car folding away.

Hood is on the ground, immediately takes Timmy from Rob, looking at the scrapes on his face.

“In, in!” Robin snaps, shooing Hood in the back with their Doctor. “We must get him to the Cave immediately.”

He dives in the driver’s seat, revving the engine fast, tapping his mask for the whiteouts to slide up. He takes in the immediate area with a glance, and peels out into the night.

Jay deactivates the helmet, tosses it in the front seat, wraps both arms around Timmy in his lap, tapping the comm to listen up at Dickie and B on clean-up whiles he winds up to get all the deets outta the Demon.

“Tell it ta me straight, Lil’ D. How bad wassit?”

He’s looking in the rearview because the kid’s eyes always give him away.

He ain’t prepared to see the Demon blinking rapidly, jaw clenched tight. “He is fully effected. Hallucinations, inability to discern outside voices. I called to him. He was not able to hear me. See me, yes, but he believed I was…dying. He attempted to treat me, asked me not to…”

Robin makes a hard right turn, shoves his foot against the pedal to drift it. He shoves in the clutch, shifts the gears, biting down on his lower lip (“Don’t leave me, I can’t lose you.”).

He evens out, hitting the Robert Kane Bridge to take them out of Gotham proper and closer to the Manor.

“Dames?” Jay makes it soft because the kid is obviously shook.

Robin pushes the car to 105 mph to sail over the bridge.

“His fear was he would be unable to save me. The wound…he believed the wound made by Hush would kill me yet again, I believe.”

Jason Todd breathes in sharply, freeing up a hand to fit at the back of Rob’s neck, make circles with his thumb.

“Sorry that mighta brought ya back.” His tone is low with sympathy, empathy.

And for a moment, Damian Wayne, not Robin, leans back into that hand, lets it ground him while the night flies by the window, while he watches the darkness for everything while he downshifts, when the road starts getting less defined further out of the city they go.

“It is not that,” Damian admits, “one day, one of us, perhaps all of us, will not return. Nothing he can do will prevent that.”

“I know, Baby Bat. Let’s hope it ain’t any day soon, you feel me?” And Jay, tries to keep it gentle, tries to keep the circles going, tries to be easy about it so Baby Bat won’t try ta pull away, put it all back inna box to fester.

“Agreed. However, do not be surprised if he comes to fighting. We must monitor his vitals closely if this toxin is similar to the last batch.”

“I gotcha. S’all right, we’re gonna take care of him, ain’t we?”

Damian makes an affirmative noise and leans forward out of Jay’s grip, pressing the gas, then gearing back up.

**

Tim comes to as the restraints are tightened, Alfred Pennyworth securing several sticky discs to his chest, and a pulse oximeter to his finger.

“We’ll see you soon, Son. Be a good boy while we’re gone.”

Makes his eye fly open wide, his heart slam painfully against his rib cage, his arms jerk where his wrists are restrained.

“Boys,” a cultured voice calls the second his eyes open, but Tim can’t see anything, not with his heart in his throat, not with his Dad’s voice ghosting out after over a decade and a half.

When he glances over, horrified at the tall figure coming closer, hands raised up in surrender, and his eyes were empty, gorey sockets, black sludge from the empty cavity. Purple lips and half-rotting flesh, the last clothes he’d seen his father wearing, his best suit, the one he’d wear to Drake Industries on the stints they were home and Dad worked in the office.

Tatters and grave dirt, bone peeking out from shriveled flesh…

“Dad,” is a broken, hoarse croak, “I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I tried. I tried to be good,” and the closer his dead, decaying Father gets, the more he fights whatever is keeping him still, won’t let him run for his own fucking sanity, “I tried! I tried and you still didn’t come home! It wasn’t my fault, it wasn’t–!”

He chokes, gags because Dad is right by the bedside, and now Tim can see the inside of his black mouth, the tongue putrid and pale without blood, and the smell–

He’s probably screaming, even if he can’t hear himself.

Something is strapped over his face, and he fights it, knows it’s a plastic mask, pumping something into his lungs, just like the fear toxin.

A turn of the head, and it’s the reversal of his first meeting with-with

The Joker.

Harley isn’t on the table bleeding out this time. It’s the two of them standing over him, a huge needle full of green sludge right by the Joker’s shoulder, right next to his horrifically sick smile.

He’s wearing a mock head lamp and white coat, Tim’s own badge dangling from his pocket. He turns to the smaller figure of Harley, the nurse sidekick with a frightening set of tools. The orbitoclast is brown with old blood and brain matter, the leucotome wire is rusty, the plunger to send that wire into his brain almost black with old gore.

And he fucking chokes.

“Hold on to those, Nurse. If my wonderful formula doesn’t do the trick, then we’ll have options! Huh, huh, huh,” and the bastard leans into him, that sickening smile, those wide, lucid eyes.

“He’s going to be our good boy, one way or the other, isn’t he?” And the dark growl of it, the promise is what makes him start screaming again.

Hands on his straining arms, a big body right by the bed when he turns, flinches away as far as the hold could let him.

“Oh no. No no no,” is a whimper, a plea, “I didn’t say anything to anyone, Mr. Johnson, I swear. I didn’t tell anyone anything.”

The grip on his arms becomes bruising, painful, terrifying all over again.

Tim clamps down, remembers the beatings hadn’t been as bad if he could keep quiet.

“Jesus Christ, you’re such a little shit.”

It’s Mr. Johnson’s words, but Jason’s voice.

“You need a good ass beaten’, kid. That’ll straighten you right out. That’s what all you fuckers need. Lucky for you I don’t mind making sure you keep on the straight and narrow.”

He doesn’t realize he’s chanting, “don’thitme, don’tdon’tdon’t, please please,  don’t,” while Mr. Johnson backs off, the old recriminations and reprimands rolling right out in Jay’s smooth baritone.

He’s outright sobbing, arms trembling above his head where he’s trapped, trapped. He can’t move, he can’t run, he can’t hide, he can’t–

And a blink takes him to the same fire escape outside his penthouse where he’d found Nightwing bleeding out, pulse already weakening, breathing shallow–

“What–“

The whiteouts on that domino are up so he can see Nightwing’s blue eyes flutter open weakly, can see the hand move gingerly to the bleeding wound on his abdomen.

“I can help you,” he yells out, hoping to make those eyes look at him, to get the vigilante to come to him, “I can save you, but you’ve got to get here.” This time his hands, his arms, his whole body is straining to get free, to reach the vigilante that needs him, that’s dying on him while he fucking watches.

The vigilante half-smiles at him, finger stripes more dark than blue, and his head goes back, visibly slumping.

“Nightwing, Nightwing, look at me! Open your eyes!” He knows he’s begging, fighting, but there’s bands around his chest, around his wrists, his ankles and thighs.

“I need, I need sutures, gloves, blood bag, and-and, I need, I need–“ but Nightwing’s head flops and his chest stutters, “LOOK AT ME! You can’t die like this, you can’t. I’m right here, I can save you!”

He sobs out loud, whole body jerking to get free.

“Ssshhh, baby doll, ssshhh,” makes him open his eyes even though he can barely see through the tears streaming down his face, his sobbing, his heart pounding copper in the back of his throat.

And there’s Jay, lying on his chest, all soft and sweet, with a post-sex grin. He’s too beautiful to be real.

“Jay?” He croaks.

“Yeah,” all soft and sweet.

Until he tilts his head, and the horrific smile below his chin leaks rich red down his throat.

“J-Jay?!” His eyes go wide and horrified because there’s his vigilante boyfriend bleeding out all over his chest, far gone enough to be silly and loopy with blood loss.

“S’okay, yeah? When s’time, s’time. Don’t gotta be sad about it, Timmy.”

“N-No, no, put-Jay, listen to me, put pressure on it, okay? Put both hands and press down. You-you’re loosing too much blood. I need you to–“

“That ain’t what’s happening here, Timmers.” Slurry and low, Jay’s face getting pale, eyes fluttering. “Like I tol’ ya b’fore. One day…one day I ain’t gonna come back. S’ just gonna be my time.”

And Tim’s shirt is wet with it, Jay’s blood staining him, soaking through his clothes, the weight of his big body heavier as his strength goes, as his eyes get dimmer, the jade flecks all but gone.

“You can’t. Jay, babe, you can’t. You have to fight. Please fight,” his hands are straining, but he’s so tired, weak, isn’t strong enough to get to them, to save them from their fates. "I don't... I can't be the last one left standing again. I can't. Please, fight. Please!"

'"Nah, Baby. Small right now. Love ya. Love ya s'much."

"I love you too," he sobs, can't breathe, can't think.

(He’s never been strong enough, has he? He’s not strong enough to be what they need.)

He finally can’t fight anymore, just stays pinned under Jay’s weakening body to cry and shake apart.

**

“Do something,” Dick yells, tears running down his face where he’s pinning Tim’s legs down so he stops hurting himself fighting the restraints.

Alfred, eyes narrow and wet-looking, huffs and turns on his heel abruptly. He fishes out supplies from the cabinet, uses a clean hypodermic to puncture the sedative.

Master Jason is staring up at Master Tim’s face, trying to be that boy in the Robin cape from all those years ago. Trying to be strong in the face of such horrors.

“Master Bruce, account for general anesthesia,” Alfred calls briskly and injects carefully into the IV.

“Understood,” the quickly working vigilante calls back from the lab, running the number a second time, darting looks at his children doing one of the hardest jobs he’s ever asked them to do.

He can tell by how Damian’s shoulders are shaking, Dick is opening crying against Tim’s hip, Jay’s lower lip trembling, eyes wet where he’s keeping Tim’s forearms pinned around the IV in his arm.

He add the variables, taking deep breaths, makes mental notes all over the place to look into Tim’s past foster parents.

Johnson. Right.

And the hardened bat can’t say his heart isn’t thundering in his throat watching Tim’s struggle, scream, cry out in grief, trying to use his reasoning and logic, having the fucking Joker of all people as part of his perpetual nightmares…

Bruce takes a calming breath, forces himself to be the Bat while he aches for the kids.

**

Twelve hours later, he comes to somewhere not his Penthouse or Dick’s apartment.

It’s chilly wherever he is, but for some reason his whole body just aches, hurts like he’d been in another damn car wreck or something. It’s too much effort to lift his head and look around, not when he’s pretty sure he’s in Dick’s lap, recognizes the smell of Dick’s jugular.

He hums a little, glad someone at least gave him a blanket because he’s at least mostly warm. His nose is pretty cold, but he just snuggles into Dick’s neck and sighs.

He tries to raise his knees to fold in, get warmer, but his heels bump into legs, and cracking his eyes open, he realizes Jay is sitting by Dick on the floor of the Cave, Tim laying over their laps.

He’s got a cotton ball taped to the inside of his forearm, and no idea why. He blinks a few times, lifts up enough to see Dami on Jay’s other side, head nudged against Jay’s shoulder. A hand is still on Tim’s ankle.

The sudden need to go to the bathroom drives him from their huddle on the cold floor, but at least he spreads the blanket out over them after he manages to pull out of their arms without waking them.

From their faces and expressions, whatever he isn’t immediately remembering couldn’t have been good.

But first, bathroom. Then, maybe coffee? Because that? Would be absolutely stellar at this juncture. Maybe some ibuprofen.

Luckily, there’s swanky digs in the Bat Cave, a set of lockers, showers, nice hot tub for long soaks after a night of kicking bad guy ass.

All the vigilante amenities.

He’s bleary and sore, staggering to the bathroom, noting B is asleep on the big computer, and Alfred sitting back in another chair, tea cup and saucer on the hard drive next to him.

He smiles a little, wonders if he can find a few more blankets somewhere.

A glance in the mirror as he was washing his hands shows him a bunch of road rash city. Man, he must have been caught up in the middle of something again.  

Seriously.

He splashes cold water on his face, works out the low throbbing ache of his bandaged wrists.

He’s shuffling back, thinking about just waking everyone the hell up to send people to bed, like themselves because his ass is numb, and there’s warm beds upstairs. When there’s pounding footsteps, skitters, and slides, whoosh of air, and Dick is right there up in his face, panting like he’d just sprinted all the way across the Cave in a quick hurry.

“Timmy?!”

He blinks up, still bleary about everything, his throat and voice wrecked as fuck, “hey honey. How was your night fighting shitty bad guys?”

He has no idea why Dick’s expression crumples, his eyes getting teary out of nowhere. He’s not prepared for Dick to start crying, to see his beautiful boyfriend hold a hand over his eyes and break down.

“Dick? Dick?”

He goes from holding himself, shuddering with the cold and ache in his bones, to up in Dick’s face, hand on his shoulder, looking for some injury, something to tell him how to help–

But Dick takes a few shuddering breaths under his hand, and Tim just wriggles his arms around Dick’s chest to hold on for a few long seconds before he gets full-on octopus hold right around his everything.

(Okay, that’s a relief.)

“…was it bad?” He asks softly, making circles with his palms as wide as Dick’s hold will let him.

“Y-Yes. It was bad. You don’t remember?” Dick sniffles against the side of his head, rocking them both gently.

“Not yet.” He shrugs an unconcerned shoulder. As someone who’s had a concussion (okay, okay, concussions), and has worked in the medical field in one of the most dangerous cities on the fucking planet, he knows there are plenty of bad guys with chemical weapons that don’t always leave short term memories in tact.

Dick shakes a little and holds him tighter.

“Fuckfuckfuck. Didja find 'im??!” As Jay rounds the corner and almost slams right into them.

He skids to a stop as Dick swiftly shifts them around out of the way. Jay doesn’t do anything to dislodge Dick’s grip, but palms the sides of Tim’s face, his eyes a hard, icy blue.

“Hey, Sweets, hey,” low in a dark way, not the usual, fun dark way. Tim has a strike of fear, takes stock of himself, of Dick, of Jay, wonders who else in the Cave might be hurt! That’s why they’re here. Someone got hurt coming after his ass, didn’t they?

“Dami? B?” He interrupts, eyes going from Jay to Dick and back.

“Fine, everyone’s fine,” is curt, short with him in a way that doesn’t make sense. He doesn’t have enough evidence.

“O-kay. You both are fine. B and Dami are fine. Alfred?”

Over his head, his boyfriends exchange a look that is really starting to worry him.

But the next twelve hours are virtually impossible to escape. The sordid details come out once Tim remembers being in that convenience store. He gets snatches of half-lucid memories, probably never will remember the entire things. The brain is the most fascinating part of the body for a reason, not only as the control center, but also as the decision-maker on what things to blot out to protect itself. 

By the time Dami starts out, they’ve migrated up to Wayne Manor, parted ways to shower and wash off the night. Dick and Jay bracketing him in, being absurdly gentle, consistent soft touches, fingers wrapping around his, hands on his back, kisses pressed into his hair.

There’s some scrapes on his forearms along with the ones on his face, washed gingerly in the shower where he finally feels warm again. Alfred leaves a special bled of his healing goop and has set out pajamas for all of them before he left, requesting them to please come have breakfast.

Tim’s stomach rumbles while they’re getting dressed, and he’s pretty much picked up, and carried down the massive staircase.

(Ugh, this is after the bridge fiasco all over again.)

But the end result: food and coffee in Wayne Manor, so bonus?

Dami is looking at him like a kicked puppy. A perpetual pissed off kicked puppy, but he tilts his head to the side inquiringly, raising his eyebrows in invitation.

“I found you almost at Sheldon Park,” Dami starts softly, but at least everyone’s eaten first.

He flinches a little when Bruce tells him what he’d said about his Dad. When Alfred tells him about the Joker and Harley Quinn either going to inject him with some crazy sauce or lobotomize him.

(Yup. Pretty horrifying either way.)

Dami tells him about seeing everyone die around him while Dick has a firm hand on his knee under the table, their chairs closer together than necessary. Jason gives no shits keeping his fingers wrapped up tight, squeezing occasionally. Alfred keeps the mug in his free hand full, stands just by Dick’s other shoulder.

“I mean,” he finally starts after everything is out in the open, “it’s literally a toxin that fucks with your brain chemistry. Not shocking I’d see pretty awful things. I see awful things...a lot, so,” he shrugs a little helplessly in the face of the whole family looking utter raw and split open. “I...I’m...sorry, really sorry I worried everyone. I’ll try to stop getting into trouble so much, you know? But, um. It is Gotham.”

The family crowds around him, bringing in rank around the table. 

And if he doesn’t have to stay at the Manor for the next week, geeze, and get coddled as fuck by the Batfamily, and get picked up from Mercy General every. single. night. for a while, and get wrapped up against two incredible vigilantes that whisper soft things against his throat, his ear, his mouth, his, well, his everything. 

If he doesn’t get Bruce herding him into the study where the fire is burning, and it seems like the Batman is the most patient person ever to let him–let him talk about some of those old pains when he was in the system. 

If Alfred literally can not make him eat enough food to be satisfied. Ever. And gives him a side-eye when he starts to push away a plate that has even a bite left.

(Alfred pizza is god-level, and you’ll never convince him otherwise. But if he eats anymore, he’s going to die. Please stop killing him with your tasty love.)

If Dami doesn’t make him watch NatGeo Wild with popcorn and boxes of candy, then grudgingly plays Mario Kart with him until Rainbow Road is like theirs. No questions asked.

If he finally doesn’t go back to his penthouse, breathes in the familiar smells, gets absolutely destroyed in the Best. Possible. Ways for the next five straight hours. If he isn’t a boneless pile of I can’t possibly come again, for the next week at least. 

If Baby Bird, Timmers, Sweets, Timmy, and Baby aren’t wrapped around him with arms and sweet kisses pressed to his forehead and hair every time he leaves for work or they leave for patrol.

If he was before this, in the slightest bit uncertain he belongs with them, as part of their family–

–he sure as hell knows better now.

At least that’s one less thing to be afraid of.

**

Note:

In Tim’s fear fueled delusion, the Joker is Alfred, Harley is Dami holding equipment to treat him. His dad was really B taking the blood samples from Alfred to analyze. He’s horrified once he realizes what Tim is seeing.

Mr. Johnson, the abusive foster parent is Jay, which Tim kind of associates because of the accent.

Dying Nightwing is Dick bent over to hold his legs down, and the next switch is really Jay laying over him upper body to keep him from hurting himself more.

(Congrats for making it to the end. *Hands tissue*)

[maximumsnow]

Chapters: 8/? Fandom: Half Life VR But The AI Is Self Aware, HLVRAI - Fandom Rating: Teen And Up Audiences Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply Characters: Gordon Freeman, Tommy Coolatta, Dr. Coomer (Half-Life), Bubby (Half-Life), Benrey (Half-Life) Additional Tags: Canon-Typical Violence, Canon-typical swearing, Basically an au exploring what if HLVRAI followed Half Life a little more closely, Au where there isn't a betrayal in that one spot, Mainly was wondering what would happen to the others if they hadn't been in on it., Some things change some don't, Oh also this is sort of intended as a not a game au

Summary: Anyone who knows original Half-Life knows that the ambush happens in that spot no matter what. What would have happened if the ambush was as rough for the others?

There was a lot to unpack involving the full realization of just how inhuman Benrey was, but all of it was shoved aside thanks to the current problem.

Which was that Benrey was horribly injured and trapped in a room that was full of a poisonous gas, and, if Coomer’s continued explanation from Wikipedia was anything to go by, it was really, really bad. Gordon did not know the limits of Benrey’s ability to heal, but if he looked this bad while getting poison shoved down his lungs, Gordon wasn’t sure about Benrey’s chances of bouncing back if he stayed for too long.

The worry cranked up to eleven when Benrey suddenly collapsed below the window.

Gordon ran over to the control console and anxiously glanced over all the buttons and levers that clearly had something to do with the environmental room. “Shit, is there like, an emergency release button?!”

Tommy wasn’t far behind. “There should- there has to be one. It’s gotta be OSHA compliant!”

“No offense, Tommy, but given everything else you’ve said followed OSHA, that doesn’t mean shit.”

“I was joking then, Mr. Freeman.”

The conversation was cut off by Bubby yelling, “Look for ‘Emergency Ventilation!’ They might be idiots, but they don’t want to waste that much space and money on a bricked room.” He had taken Tommy’s place at the tank of poison and was fiddling with something over there.

Now that he knew what to look for, Gordon renewed his search, but Tommy was already reaching over him and slammed a fist onto a button. “Woah-”

A sound not unlike an air conditioning unit but much louder kicked in, and there was an immediate change in the enclosed room as the green started to clear out. With the fog fading away and the lack of a large rainbow body covering the floor, it was much easier to see what the room used to be.

The rocky terrain was mostly barren by this point, with the remains of possibly alien plants dotted around pools of water. Corpses of headcrabs were also strewn about, but, shockingly, they were mostly still intact despite Benrey’s presence.

Most notably, though, there was the body of a soldier, and Gordon could not say the same about it. It was in more pieces than Benrey’s still alive body. There was an arm in the corner, a leg by that murky pool, and Gordon had to look away from the torso with organs leaking out of it.

That was enough nightmares for today.

He anxiously waited for the door to unlock, but despite the toxin being flushed out by fresh air and vented elsewhere, there wasn’t a click or a hiss or any other sound he would associate with an unlocking pressurized door.

“Uh, why-”

The overhead sprinklers in the sealed room turned on; the hiss of spraying water was immediately covered up by a sharp scream that could only have come from Benrey.

Gordon slammed against the window as he tried to see what was going on. “Benrey? Dude, you okay?” He knew the question was stupid, but due to where Benrey dropped, it was difficult to see the security guard from the angle the window allowed.

“What are you doing?” The tone would be called whiny if it wasn’t for the gasps of pain that punctuated each word.

The implied accusation stung. “I don’t know! We hit the button to clear out the gas and-”

Tommy interrupted, “Sorry Benrey! That stuff- That gas residue can stick. The room has special surfactant laced water in the sprinklers and… yeah. Just hold on a little longer, okay?”

The explanation was met with silence.

“Benrey?” Gordon couldn’t help but call out.

“Oh. Okay. I can chill a bit.” The voice was strained, but at least he spoke at all.

The tension left his shoulders a little. As long as Benrey was still talking, they knew he was fine. At least it sounded like his voice wasn’t as raspy this time.

Unfortunately, all they could do was wait until the room went through a complete clean cycle if the book Tommy had pulled out was right.

Feeling bad for their stuck companion, Gordon turned the intercom on and panicked when he didn’t have an immediate topic to bring up. Latching onto the first question his mind thought of, he asked, “So uh, was this why you kept disappearing on us earlier?”

More silence.

“Benrey?”

“Hey bro. Appreciate what you’re doing, but please no talking? Pretty please? I’ll be fine. Promise.” Benrey’s voice was barely audible over the fans getting louder.

The pained plea immediately made Gordon feel guilty, so he turned the intercom off and started to pace in front of the window. The sound made it difficult for any of them to hold a conversation, even if Benrey wasn’t involved, so Gordon was stuck alone in his thoughts as he waited for the door to finally open. From a different perspective, it looked like he was all but bouncing between Bubby and Tommy, but he didn’t get to appreciate that mental image due to worrying over the condition Benrey was in.

He was still reeling over the full understanding that Benrey’s one off line about not being human was not an impulsive gag, but a truthful statement. Sure, he probably should have guessed by now given Benrey’s apparent powers, but Gordon still thought that he was more in line with Bubby or Coomer. An… Enhanced human, if anything else.

But nope, Benrey was apparently a shapeshifting monster that had a human form. The scientist in Gordon was intrigued at the apparent alien life form, but the empathetic part of him knew that outright asking shit like that would be rude at best. De-human… Depersonalizing at worst.

Sure Benrey gave him hell, but it wasn’t like Benrey had been outright malicious. Hell, he had even rescued Coomer.

… Actually, he was probably also the thing that slammed into Bubby’s tube to release him.

Damn, Gordon really felt bad for being a dick to Benrey earlier, now.

His thoughts were interrupted as a loud hissing sound brought his attention back to the room, and Tommy all but yanked the door off its hinges before catching himself. “Mr. Freeman, you have to, uh. You’re wearing an HEV suit. You have to be the one to pull him out.”

Nodding, Gordon quickly passed him and entered the now supposedly cleaned environmental room. Benrey was huddled under the observation window, and when he looked up at Gordon, he actually had more than half of a face.

The sight of muscle and bone still made Gordon recoil in horror. “Holy shit, dude. Doesn’t that hurt?”

Benrey half-heartedly gave a one-armed shrug. “I’ll regen soon, don’t worry about it.”

“That doesn’t mean this doesn’t suck ass!” Hell, just looking at him was making him queasy. But the half-drowned puppy look compelled him to at least try to ease the poor guy’s pain. “Come on let’s get you out of here.” He knelt down and tried to figure out where he could potentially touch Benrey without hurting him.

“Need a hand?” Benrey rolled over, and clutched in his remaining hand was a now very muddy arm.

Needless to say, the visual equivalent of a non-sequitur gave Gordon pause as he tried to process just what he was looking at.

“Why the fuck do you have a random arm?”

“Wasn’t his.” He lazily waved the arm like it was a magic wand and pointed the hand end towards the dead soldier.

Gordon could feel his stress headache building. “What do you mean it wasn’t his?”

In lieu of saying anything, Benrey shoved the other end of the arm into Gordon’s face, and the movement startled Gordon into falling on his ass.

He was so glad that he couldn’t feel the mud through the HEV suit.

“Dude, what the fuck?”

“Look, it’s not, uh, natural.”

“I don’t want to look at the bony end-” He stopped and stared at the place he knew there should be blood and bone, but there were bits that looked shiny under the mud. “Metal?”

“Yeah. Not his. He’s kinda made of meat.”

“Is this… Dr. Coomer’s arm?”

“Think so. Tried to get it back for ‘em”

… That’s right, Benrey was the monster that chased the soldiers that had taken Dr. Coomer apart.

Gordon shook his head as he got back on his feet. “You can show him when we get out. Come on...”

Given Benrey’s current state, Gordon finally decided to just try picking him up bridal style. Other than a few grunts of pain as he was shifted around, Benrey kept mostly quiet.

Exiting became a problem since the others had all elected to stand directly in the doorway to peer in like children trying to snoop on their parents. He rolled his eyes, but before he could say anything, Benrey shouted, “LET ME OUT OF THIS BOX!”

The sudden volume actually made Bubby and Tommy scramble out of the way, but it took a not so subtle yank from Bubby to make Coomer move.

With the path clear, Gordon walked in and found a relatively clean spot next to a wall to put Benrey. “Here we go. Sorry, can’t do anything more comfy for ya.”

“It’s fine,” He said before shoving the arm into Gordon’s hands. “I gotta. Gotta nap.”

While the thought of staying too long made him nervous, Gordon couldn’t help but agree with him there. They could afford to take a break for a while. “Alright, I’ll get you up before we leave.”

“Sounds good.” The one eye was already drifting shut, but the steady breathing soothed Gordon’s fear.

Despite still being worried, he could see some of the skin regrowing on Benrey’s face, and, frankly, Gordon didn’t want to get sick. Instead, he turned to the others, nearly bumped into Tommy with how close he had been standing, and asked Coomer, “Hey, your arm-”

“Look, Gordon, you found my left Extendo-arm!”

“-Your arm is dirty. Do we have to do anything special to clean it?”

“Nope! It’s perfectly waterproof even when unattached. You’ve even seen me swim with it.”

“The chemicals in the water should have- should have made it safe to use. Even after exposure to- Even after being exposed to the poison.”

“Okay so just some good old soap and water to get off the dirt should be fine.” With that, he walked over the bloodstains to one of the sinks built into the counters. He tested one of the faucet handles, and sighed in relief when water flowed out of the tap. Grateful that the water was still working, he started trying to wipe off all the mud.

Progress was… Slow, however.

“How the HELL did this get so fucking dirty?”

The clunky gloves of the HEV suit didn’t make it any easier, either. As he scrubbed at a particularly stubborn clump of dirt, he glanced over towards Tommy and Benrey.

Tommy was practically standing over Benrey. Like he was guarding him.

But before he could say something to him, Bubby and Coomer’s movements caught his eye as they wandered towards Gordon’s other side.

Coomer had moved first. Something had caught his attention, and he was walking towards the other sink. Then Bubby’s examination of the poison tank ended, and he joined Coomer in looking over what was left on the counters.

They both stood in front of a strange egg-like thing, and when Gordon looked over his shoulder to do a quick headcount, he had to ask, “Uh, what the fuck is that? Please don’t poke it.”

“Hello, Gordon! I have no idea what this is!” Given his current lack of upper limbs, Coomer had settled on nearly shoving his face into it as he tried to examine it.

Bubby, of course, decided to pick it up, and before Gordon could stop him, the egg appeared to hatch on contact. “Oh. I uh. Didn’t expect that. Does this mean I’m a parent now?”

“What a beautiful child!”

The creature in question was an insectoid creature not much bigger than Bubby’s hand with a large faceted eye. When Bubby brought up his other hand to presumably touch it, a beak snapped shut very close to his finger and nearly caused him to drop it.

“Careful, before it bites your hand off!”

“I’m not that stupid.”

Gordon chose to not rise to the bait and start a fight there. “We can’t take it with us, so figure out what to do with it.”

Turning back to his task at hand, he continued scrubbing mud away, and he couldn’t help but notice that the artificial skin on the arm sometimes made it look far too real.

Don’t think about it. Don’t think about it. Don’t think- Wait where the fuck did that thing go?

When he looked back over the counter, the creature Bubby had picked up was nowhere to be seen.

He had to ask, "What did you do?"

"Tranq'ed it."

Gordon blinked a few times before yelling, "HOW?"

"With tranqulizers Gordon use your goddamn brain." With that, Bubby turned away and walked over towards the desk.

"Where did you- you know what? I don't need to know." He knew a lost cause of a conversation when he saw one, and he did not want to deal with it anymore.

Once the arm was sufficiently cleaned, he placed it on the counter and nearly ran into Coomer.

“Hello, Gordon!”

“Hey, Coomer. Does this need to dry before we reattach it, or can it just go right on?” He waved towards the drying arm.

Coomer mused for a second before saying, “It is waterproof, but I’ve never tried attaching the arms while they’re still wet. Maybe we should sit it in rice for a few minutes?”

“Uhhhh, we don’t have rice, dude. But we can let it air dry for a while. Don’t think we’re going anywhere soon.” He pointed his thumb over his shoulder towards the resting Benrey. In a quieter voice, he asked, “How’re you holding up?”

Matching his volume, Coomer responded, “I’ll be much better when I have my arms again. At least we’re almost halfway there.”

Gordon reached over and patted Coomer’s shoulder before going back to the others. “How about we just. Take a breather for now?”

“Best idea I’ve heard all day,” Bubby said before promptly dropping to the floor. At least that spot was clean...

“… You okay?” “I’m fine!” Despite the claim, Bubby was removing the shoe on his bad foot and was checking on the injury.

Before Gordon could go over and repeat the question, Coomer lightly shoulder checked him as he passed by and gave Gordon a look.

As Gordon understood it, that was an unspoken, “Let me handle it,” gesture, and he backed away from the older scientists as they settled.

Coomer lightly leaned against Bubby on his way down to a sitting position; the ease with which he went through the motions spoke of years of practice.

How often had Coomer been armless before?

Gordon knew the question would be unappreciated at the moment, but it hovered in his mind like an annoying fly. He tried to distract himself by taking a seat not far from Benrey and Tommy, but Benrey was still obviously regrowing shit, which Gordon still didn’t want to focus on.

So that left trying to get Tommy to relax.

“Yo, Tommy, uhh. How long before I can sleep?” He nearly slapped himself on the forehead with how dumb that was. Wow, great conversation starter, Gordon. Bringing more attention to their group's various injuries was a great way to ease Tommy’s worries.

The expected reaction of Tommy managing to tense up even more made Gordon vaguely wonder when the theoretical string would snap. “I don’t- It’s not an exact science. Just. If you-” Tommy cut himself off. “-I know we can’t keep you up forever.” The admission was followed by a drop in Tommy’s shoulders. “Can you stay up until night- until the we have to stop and sleep later?”

The correction was appreciated. Sometimes they didn’t see the sun for a while, and at this point, Gordon didn’t even know what time of day it was. The lobby had ambient sunlight shining through the skylight, but with everything happening, he couldn’t even begin to guess how long ago that was.

Right, he needed to answer that question before Tommy wrung himself into a spiral of anxiety. “Yeah, man, I can do that.”

Tommy’s face lightened up into a faint smile, and while that gave Gordon some relief, he couldn’t help but feel sad that the normally vivid expression had faded so much.

Deciding to take the conversation back to what he actually wanted to talk about, he asked, “Wanna take a breather? The rest of us are. Can you mess up the door like the last one?”

Tommy bit his lip as he appeared to weigh the options. “This door doesn’t- This room doesn’t have a Tesla charge. So it doesn’t have the same-” Tommy waved his hand in frustration, “-Things. That the last door we blocked did.”

Gordon groaned, “OSHA Compliance?”

“OSHA Compliance.”

Sure, he knew why most automatic doors didn’t have an auto-lock on them, but it made things really inconvenient right now.

“How about we just block the door with something? We’re all hanging out on the ground.” Despite that last statement, Gordon adjusted himself so that he could stand up and help.

“Take it easy, Mr. Freeman, I can get it,” Tommy said before putting a hand on Gordon’s shoulder to keep him seated.

“But-”

“It won’t take me long, just keep- Watch out for the others.”

He wasn’t entirely sure just what he meant since Bubby was already faintly snoring, and Coomer was loudly snoring, but didn’t argue as Tommy breezed past him.

Gordon would swear he only blinked before Tommy had come back and settled near him and Benrey.

“You already done?”

“Yeah, just took some- Took a few chairs and made a barrier. The counter already blocks us from view. And the- the uh, blood trail should be a warning sign...”

Tommy sounded like he was trying to convince himself more than Gordon, and it didn’t look like it was working.

“I believe you.”

The look Tommy gave him conveyed incredulousness and gratitude.

“We’ll get through this, okay? But don’t burn yourself out. I can keep an eye on things for an hour or two, if that would help?”

Sure, Gordon knew he would be an alarm system at best, but Tommy looked so tired. Even if Tommy would only take a short nap, it would be better for him in the long run.

Honestly, it would be better for all of them since he was the only one not physically fucked up in some way, but Gordon’s primary concern in the moment was Tommy’s mental wellbeing.

The quiet after the question stretched for an uncomfortable minute, but Gordon knew Tommy needed to think this through on his own terms. “Sure, I can- I can take a nap. Will you wake me up in-” Tommy then seemed to notice the lack of functioning clocks in this room, “-In a little while.”

“Poggers,” Gordon nearly died as the streamer lingo slipped out. Sure his interest in video games had slipped out earlier, but the residual fear of exposing his private interests to professional colleagues never went away completely. “Sounds good, I mean.”

Tommy shrugged before handing over the assault rifle and sliding down from his seated position to a laying position.

“G’night, Mr. Freeman.” “Goodnight, Tommy.”

[adrenalinesaint]

Say mun, which is your overall favourite scarecrow design? I mean the costume as well as Jonathan Crane appearance. And which is your favourite scarecrow/Jonathan Crane character portrayal?

Great question, thank you for asking!

My favorite designs for Scarecrow have to be the ones from The New Batman Adventures and Arkham Knight. I lean towards the spooky ones as opposed to the campy ones, but I do have a soft spot for the second version of his Batman: The Animated Series due to childhood nostalgia. A lot of people tout the Long Halloween design as their absolute favorite, and I suppose it’s definitely worth all the hype, but I just can’t get behind the powerful Tim Burton vibe I get from it. I can’t separate the concept of friendly Halloween spirits trying to have a nice Christmas from the look so I can’t see it as anything but extremely adorable and soft.

So far as the design for Jonathan’s own visage and how it’s changed through the comics, I find it somewhat irrelevant, but also extremely pertinent to the telling of his character. I don’t especially think it matters what he looks like, as long as he’s not pretty or suits the ideal of masculinity. I do, however, really like how he was illustrated in Batman Annual #19: Masters of Fear. @jonathan-cranes-mistress-of-fear did a great analysis on the piece and it features a series of choice images.

This last question regarding his character portrayal really excites me, because I get to talk about something that I really loved about Scarecrow: Year One. Yes, it features his actual backstory and not just that time he have a kid with a heart condition a heart attack in the classroom and lost tenure -- but, more importantly, it shows him acting not out of some random comicbook villain routine of poison-the-water-supply or rob-the-banks or whatever. He’s not just spraying randos in the face with toxin -- it’s people he actually knew and worked with, people who should have been there for him emotionally, and people he felt jealousy towards. It even shows us that he’s prepared to kill an innocent infant without remorse.

But, Year One is a gimme, of course. Any Scarecrow roleplayer will gush about Year One if given the chance, so let me give you a different answer that pertains a lot more to my own portrayal of his character.

I really liked Jonathan in Study Hall, a short comic by Paul Dini and Bruce Timm featured in Mad Love and Other Stories. I scoured google for a good 20 minutes and found nothing I could link to for it, so I’ll just give you the lowdown of what goes on so you don’t have to go to Amazon and give Jeff Bezos money for a 10 minute read. Fuck capitalism.

The long and short of it is that Jonathan just up and quits crimes. He’s old and he’s tired and he’s sick of it, so he moves to another town and takes up a new name and gets a job as a professor of English literature, doing what he loves. And for a while, he’s actually really happy. He even has this really close friendship with one of his students, Molly. But, uh oh, Molly is an attractive woman with a brain, so Jonathan instantly falls in love with her. He does, however, seem to have a moment of clarity where he realizes that he can’t actually be with her. So he seems resigned to that fact after talking with her about it like a grown up for the first time in his goddamn life, and attempts to go about his business like a sane man. However, he’s too much of a goddamn simp to let that happen, because when Molly shows up to his office hours with bruises, he discovers that the boyfriend she chose over him beats her. Time to overstep boundaries and break the law! He kidnaps her boyfriend and tortures him in his classroom with fear toxin. Batman actually shows up before the torture begins, prepared to stop it from happening, when he hears why Jonathan is torturing the guy. At that point Batman decides, hey, a bit of toxin can do this piece of shit good. I’ll sit back and intervene when Jonathan actually tries to do a murder. Which he did, of course.

With the plot summed up, I’m sure you can see where I find the little nuggets of gold in the narrative regarding his character. He falls in love easily and fast, and doesn’t do it healthily. He’s concerned mainly with how things effect him rather than others -- yes, you may assume that he acted out of protectiveness for Molly, but you can also assume he acted out of spite for being deigned inferior to even men who physically abuse her. It also, though, shows that he either cannot force himself to be mentally well, or does not actually want to. Given that he, himself, was formally trained to be a mental healthcare professional and therefore he ought to be able to navigate the paths of getting real, valuable mental help, I choose to err with the latter option. He would rather be bitter about being a criminal pariah than put forth the effort to turn his life around. Even if it meant potentially being with someone who could actually fulfill him emotionally and mentally.

[sunlitroom]

Gotham - s4e02 - The Fear Reaper

As I watched it, and some random observations here and there.

Previously on Gotham.

Victor crashes a wedding. Crime is legal now. Oswald keeps you safe, not GCPD.  Fried Babs. Selina wants more.  Poor, poor Jonathan. Sleazy warden and the gang who all need to die. Oswald climbs Jim like a big blond tree with a constant nagging fear that it’s a fraud and gives him a hug. Bruce is arrested.   Jonathan Crane isn’t here anymore – Scarecrow is.

As always, long post will be long - reaaally long.  There are likely to be rambling digressions. Gobblepot may appear (although I welcome all shippers and non-shippers alike :)).  There will be naked favouritism and naked not-favouritism. Broader comments at the end on plotlines and parallels and general direction.

 GCPD turn up at the hideous gang's hideout.  Jim tells everyone to stay cool.  We see a makeshift lab.  Harvey comments that,

This place smells like death

And then banters a bit about getting something to eat later.  Jim isn’t in a season 1 mood, though, and tersely notes that they’ve made more toxin, as Harvey notices Jonathans old Arkham uniform.  Glancing round into a mirror, Jim notices the reflection of a suspicious-looking scarecrow outside.

They both run out, and find the one of the gang guys tied up.  Do they even all have names?  Who cares. Fuckface #3, that’ll do.  He’s terrified and tells them:

He's coming.

Who?

The scarecrow!

 GCPD, where Bruce has been arrested.  He’s claiming that this is all a ghastly misunderstanding.   Alfred arrives, and assures Bruce that Wayne Enterprise’s most talented and expensive lawyer is on the case.  If you’re going to illegally meddle in police business, it really helps to be enormously wealthy and privileged.  Bruce hurriedly explains to Alfred that he fell through the skylight, when an unimpressed Jim arrives.

Bruce hastily concocts the excuse that he was up there looking for Selina. Chivalrous, Bruce.  Jim releases him without bail, but promises they’ll talk more about this.

Meantime, the gang member still flipping out in the other cell.  

 At Arkham, where they’ve presumably been forewarned about the danger that might be heading their way. They’re roughly ushering the patients to bed and strapping them down. Fuck everything about this place.

In his office, the oleaginous warden is burning his papers.  God only knows what he’s been up to.  When his back is turned, Jonathan enters, dragging his scythe along the nasty table we say last time.  He tells the Warden it’s too late for all that, and that his dirty deeds have stained him.  Yeuch.

He talks about his treatment there for three years, upon which the warden realises who he is.  Also - because, you know, he’s dressed like a giant scarecrow.

Jonathan

(Like his paternal tone last episode, his use of Jonathan’s first name here bothers me too.)

He was thrown in a cell and ignored, except for occasional ice baths (why, exactly?) and ECT.  

The Warden says if he leaves now then he won’t tell anyone he’s been here.  The phone rings and he makes to answer, but Jonathan slams his scythe down.

Pay attention!

Jonathan talks about he cured himself.  He made himself one with his fear.  The Warden, meantime, is eyeing the gun in his drawer.  He tries to beg again – but Jonathan responds badly to the use of his name.

Jonathan Crane is no more. Call me by my true name!

He sprays the Warden with serum, and he begins to hallucinate.  

GCPD – where Alfred and Bruce are just leaving

Rough night, Bruce?

It’s Lucius.  They wheel out the Selina excuse again. Lucius is not fooled, and points out the concrete and stone residue on Bruce’s clothes.  Somewhere across town, in his icy cocoon, Ed just breathed a fluttery little smitten sigh.

They come up with the terrible excuse that he’s been rock-climbing.  This is the kind of rubbish lying that made Smallville’s Lex very, very cross.  Lucius looks very unimpressed by this lie, but lets them leave.

Back at Arkham. Jonathan is telling the Warden that his father was a genius, who wanted to end fear for his sake, because he loved him so much.

(An aside.  Oh Jonathan – possibly the rightful president of Gotham’s ‘They fuck you up, your mum and dad’ club.  Your dad was a terrible, terrible person.  He knowingly and repeatedly caused you fear and pain, and made you think that you should be grateful for it, and guilty for not appreciating it. His experimental design also sucked – with sample group that was both unrepresentative and too small.  And I’m not even going to tell you what he did when he was the Phantom of the opera that one time….)

Anyway – it turns out the Warden’s greatest fear is clowns.  We see him grab the gun from his desk and run down the corridor – shooting all the clowns he sees, who actually turn out to be his orderlies.

Meantime, Jonathan has gone to the ward, where the patients are strapped down.  He calls them brothers and sisters, and tells them his father would have cured them.  He was, however, murdered by GCPD.  They will be his army now

(An aside – this is not a very organised army)

And those men will know fear.

GCPD

James Gordon!

Jim looks up to see Oswald walking in with a pack of reporters behind him.  Harvey tells him to play nice, but Jim doesn’t want to.

Oswald approaches – and being Jim and Oswald – they decide to stand toe to toe.  Oswald comments that he sees they’ve caught one, but he’s also figured out Jonathan is the likely culprit, and wants to know if Jim’s caught him.  Jim tells him his whereabouts are unknown.  

Oswald laughs – he’s just about taut with tension in this whole scene, I don’t think he gets the ‘no emotions’ thing – and comments that he is unsurprised by GCPD’s failure.  He and Jim stare off, and Harvey thinks this is a good time to mention the newspaper headline that called him a chicken – presumably as retaliation for that last comment.  Because infuriating Oswald always works so well.

Just about bubbling over with fury now, Oswald calls GCPD

Outdated, ineffectual, corrupt

Jim retaliates that the innocent suffer when criminal have a license to commit crime.  Oswald tells him the scheme is working.  He doesn’t want to destroy GCPD – he wants to save it, and – through that – Gotham.

Jim maintains that he will arrest those committing crimes.  Oswald turns on him.  He asks him how well his ‘boy scout morality’ has worked in the past, and asks if he wants a list of the victims of Jim’s ‘antiquated righteousness’.

Jim is taken aback by this. It’s pretty much nail on the head in terms of his self-image.  And there’s also the fact (more at the end on this) that while he and Oswald routinely squabble – there are rules to their engagement.  There’s an intake of breath when he mentions this – he didn’t quite expect this jab from this person.

Oswald offers a deal. If he can find Jonathan and lock him up in 24 hours, then fair enough.  If not – he admits he failed and let the city down.  Could this be anymore personal, Os?

Jim just stands there, so Oswald – to grab his arm – leans forward in this odd hugging/embrace move. His face is turned towards us as he does it, and there’s the oddest expression there.  First off – the expression change as soon as his face is turned away from the press reminds us that he is almost constantly playing to an audience these days, whether that’s the journalists or his enemies. Secondly, yes - he’s mad as all hell, but there’s a whole tumult of emotion going on, and you see it for a split second when he leans close.

He leans back, gripping Jim’s arm, and shakes hands.

Good for you, Jim, game on.

Jim’s actually fairly calm throughout that whole thing.  He goes from a big no to the crime licenses, to his response to the boy scout thing, and then a look of slight bafflement at Oswald’s temper.

(An aside – I know I may as well consign this to the ‘this will never be answered’ bin – but I do wonder whether Jim even expressed any remorse about Fish to Oswald?  He was clearly regretful at the time – but I suspect he’s since buried it with all the other things he doesn’t want to think about).

Selina is walking alone at night.  Tabitha is able to sneak up behind her, cross that she has apparently not learned much from their lessons.  Turned out they both received an embossed business card which said ‘opportunity awaits’, and decided to go at night-time to an isolated building to check out the fabulous opportunity mentioned on the mysterious business card.  Gotham rogues need stranger danger lessons.  At this point, I don’t trust them not to get into a stranger’s car if offered sweets or puppies.

It’s from Babs it seems.  She now has a lovely velvet couch.  Selina and Tabitha express disbelief at her not-deadness, but Babs reminds them no-one really dies in Gotham.  Tabitha would still like to slit her throat.  Barbara gives her a look that is…not as easy to read as usual.  I’d say that there’s an element of threat-assessment going on there.  She’s trying to read her.

They walk nearer each other. Tabitha puts a knife to her throat. Barbara starts speaking.  It seems sincere, but it’s also so calm that it seems planned, or trained.

Not a day goes by where I don’t think about what I did.  I wish I could take it back.

Tabitha says she’d like to go back too, and finish the job.  Barbara calmly continues

I was jealous.  I was stupid.  I am sorry

She then puts her own hand over Tabitha’s, which is holding the knife.  In an echo of Oswald and Jim’s confrontation way back in season one, she says:

Kill me if you don't believe me

Like Jim, Tabitha can’t go through with that – and shoves her aside instead.

They talk briefly about what this place is.  Essentially – Barbara sees a business opportunity.  The Oswald-licensed crooks will need weapons (well – yes – but they seem to already have those?) – and she’s going to supply them.  In doing so – they’ll learn about the crimes they plan to commit – and this is a sure-fire way to get on top again.

(An aside – uh, what? What we’ve seen is a lot of fairly low-level crime.  And how would this enable them to get on top, exactly?  Oswald would figure out pretty fast who would be likely to be screwing him over – even if there is a way to somehow do this.  And if crooks start to draw a connection between getting guns from Babs and Tabs and your plans getting fucked over, surely they’d just go elsewhere.)

Barbara says that she won’t proceed without them both.  And again – yes, she might well have lingering fondness for them both – but she also knows Tabitha is likely to bear a grudge, and Selina is really still a child. What is indispensable here, exactly?

Tabitha refuses. Barbara took something from her that she will never be able to get back, and she should feel lucky she doesn’t just raze the place to the ground.  She leaves, and a still preternaturally calm Babs asks Selina to talk to her on her behalf.

 Wayne Manor, where Bruce and Alfred are arguing about his lack of preparedness.  Long story short, Bruce only feels truly alive when he’s falling through skylights, and Alfred is worried he’ll got shot.  Bruce leaves, and Alfred angrily makes a sandwich.  This incessant snack making is why he and Victor could work.

 At GCPD, they’ve learned Arkham is more chaos than usual.  The patients are rioting.  Jim decides to head out there, and call for support – but no-one moves.  They’ve chosen to back Oswald.  Jim says – and just bear in mind that this is a man with two murders committed in sound mind under his belt – that none of them are fit to wear the badge.  

One cop points out the badge doesn’t get you a very good time in Gotham, and they don’t make a difference.  He calls on Harvey to go with him.  Harvey reminds him that one day it would be now or never, and this is never.  He’s Captain, and if he back Jim, he loses all the other cops – and they will need them.  If they lose their help – Oswald will get to choose the next captain, and God knows who that would be – so Jim’s on his own.

Jim leaves.

 Arkham – where every scary asylum trope is being hit even more so than usual.  The Warden is wearing bad clown makeup and claiming that he’s not scared anymore, because he is a clown now.

Meantime Jonathan watches Jim on a monitor – and we get a quick flashback of his original episode for anyone who didn’t watch s1.

Ah - it's you

He rallies his troops over the tannoy, saying that Jim will pay for what he has done, and know fear. He closes the gates and Jim is trapped with the patients ready to attach.  However, he fires warning shots and they run.  Jonathan realises he’ll have to do the job himself.

 Oswald, Ivy and Victor at Babs.  Victor is distracted by all the guns, but Oswald is more busy listing all the different types of payment Barbara will have to make to him for him to be willing to allow this.  Barbara says she’s waiting for partners to come on board.  Ivy pipes up – and asks if it’s Selina and Tabitha.  Oswald grins

Good luck with that – they’re slippery characters

He also comments that Tabitha might just be pissed at Barbara killing Butch.

Ivy cuts in again

I could talk to them.....

Oswald snaps at her –

I distinctly remembered saying that you could come if you kept your mouth shut

(So – aside from the fact that Ivy and Oswald are tossing the conflict ball back and forth because the writers seemingly got bored of this team-up within two minutes – you can, I suppose, understand some of his irritation.  Yes - he’s snappish and dismissive, deliberately so – to explain away Ivy’s eventual defection – but he doesn’t smack down her first, relatively useful observation.  What he does smack down is her offer to negotiate between his enemies: the visit is clearly meant to scope Barbara out and intimidate.  The remark is stupid. He could be nicer and more respectful.  He could be more restrained and not let an enemy see internal dissent. But this idea that they want to convey – Oswald is needlessly mean to Ivy - doesn’t hold water.)

Barbara smiles while Ivy sulks.  Oswald promises Babs that one hint of trouble, and Victor will step in and end her with her own merchandise.  As he’s leaving, he remarks that this didn’t all come cheap, and says he’ll find out who paid for her new fancy place.  Victor takes a gun as he leaves.

 In the Warden's office, Jim searches for Jonathan.  Jonathan knocks him to the floor.

Do you believe in fate? I didn't before today.

He does now, though He can’t believe that of all the cops – Jim shows up.  He unmasks.  Jim blinks.

Jonathan.  What happened to you?

(An aside - This is what he asked Ed, too.  Jim seems to have difficulty in understanding how people are pushed past snapping point – which doesn’t really make sense, given boozy bounty-hunter Jim.  Maybe it’s obviously ‘unwell’ behaviour as the outcome of strain that he can’t understand?  He certainly seems incredibly unsympathetic to Barbara. Also – Jim – you’ve seen Arkham before. What kind of treatment did you think he was going to get?)

Jonathan accuses Jim of killing his father.  Jim counters that his father was insane and wanted to harm him – but Jonathan, presumably due to a complete dearth of anyone else in the world giving even the slightest damn about him, has made a plaster saint of his father – and won’t be convinced.

He tells Jim,

We can live imprisoned by fears, or we can embrace them

And sprays him with the serum.  I feel compelled to keep adding ‘with the serum’ when he sprays someone – otherwise it makes him sound like a misbehaving cat.

He wonders what Jim will see.  His victims, perhaps?

(The serum apparently gives you unattractive yellow crust round your mouth, which – as we’re about to discover how easily it’s neutralised – is probably its worst feature.)

A dosed Jim hears screaming and wanders into a room where Lee lies in a bath full of blood, having slit her wrists.  He tried to help – but she doesn’t want it.

Don't touch me, let me go. You’ve caused me so much pain. I’ve suffered you long enough.  We could have been a family, had a child. You destroy everything you touch. 

 We see – before she sinks beneath the surface, that she has her black virus nailpolish on

Jonathan tells Jim to join her to show how much he loves her.

(Just an aside – how come Jonathan can see other people’s hallucinations?)

He tells Jim not to let her die hating him, but to prove his love – it’s what Lee would want.

Jim mutters this to himself for a bit, and is apparently able to reason his way out of the virus by remembering Lee loves him

(An aside – hang on, this sucks.  Everyone else is a weeping wreck, but Jim can just power through it?  First off – his hallucination is totally different.  A demonic Lee, hounding him from room to room with blood streaming from her wrists would follow the pattern of the other hallucinations.  But Jim get this relatively calm scene – giving him space to reflect?  It also raises again the messiness at the end of last season – where Lee’s explicitly stated motivation was a fascination with the dark side, which explained her attraction to Jim.  That lazily morphed into Babs’s ‘Jim and I are meant to beeeee’ in the finale.  Has Jim swept all that under the carpet too?)

Having snapped out of it, he looks for Jonathan, who is as pissed as the audience.

How did you do it?! How did you defeat it?!

Inconsistent writing to further the plot, Jonathan.

Jim says he overcame his fear.  Jonathan calls him a liar.

You can't just stop being afraid!  You can only become your demon like I did

Jim tells him that he has a choice, in the self-assured tones of someone who never did time in Arkham.

He tells Jonathan that whatever his father was, he didn't want this for him.  He needs help.  Jonathan says – the first time he wobbles in his adoration of his father – that his father thought he was weak: scared little Jonathan.

Jim nods.  

Ok - I can help you.  Let me help you

Jonathan rallies - though

But I’m not weak anymore!  I’ll never go back to being that boy!

He runs, and Jim pursues.

 Bruce on another roof top. He hears laughter, and follows some shady men into a warehouse, and right into a trap.  The men want to know why he’s following them, and assure him they have a license.  They ask if he’s some boy scout or do-gooder.  Little do they know he’s just a rich boy with an exciting new hobby.

Pulling his mask off they comment that he’s just a kid.  They remind him again of the license, and that it’s within their rights to do anything they want to him.  Anything. Yeuch.

Bruce headbutts one of them. A scramble ensues.  Bruce manages to escape, but is followed (easily, because he confusingly decides to stroll away from the scene, instead of legging it. Even the crook comments:

You think you're so slick

He is saved from actual consequences yet again – this time by Alfred with a crowbar.

 Tabitha and Selina’s apartment – where Selina is trying to convince Tabitha to overlook that whole tired murder and betrayal thing and just team up with Barbara.

(An aside – just want to point out, at the outset of a scene and storyline that are both a complete mess, that this is not in keeping at all with what we know of Selina.  She’s hugely driven by loyalty, and caring for her friends. Yet she’s persuading Tabitha to overlook the inconsequential matter of betrayal and the murder of her lover? Nope)

Tabitha asks why she wants this so much.  Good question.  Apparently Selina is

Sick and tired of not being taken seriously by all those selfish guys out there who treat me like I'm stupid.

She can’t do much alone, but as a team, they can – give those creeps a run for their money

(An aside - this is just bilge.  Does she mean Bruce?  Seemed fine accepting his apology last episode – and this isn’t exactly an accurate summary of their relationship anyway.  Aside from that – who does she mean?  The one person who did Selina more wrong than anyone else is her mother – showing up again to swindle her.  This is lazy, lazy bullshit to try and sell us on the idea of a girl gang.)  

Ivy materialises in their apartment, seemingly making it past all their super sophisticated ninja skills, even though she’s about 6-foot-tall with bright red hair.

I want in

Tabitha tells her to get out and calls her a ‘penguin stooge’.  Ivy retorts that she hates ‘that freak’.  Tabitha tells her she’s a liar, and that she was quick to guzzle down his koolaid

(And again, Tabitha, a short, to-the-point – fuck you.  Where does she find this self-righteousness?  Just a reminder – got her jollies listening to a scared old woman crying and begging, and then stabbed said old woman in the back, and his demonstrated no remorse. Cherry on the cake – when a clearly child-like and damaged Oswald showed up after Arkham, she wanted to murder him, and only settled on humiliation when she wasn’t granted permission.  The only reason she’s still alive is because Oswald decided not to take retribution for Butch’s sake.   Tabitha’s dreadful.)

Ivy then mystifiyingly remarks that there’s

Nothing I wouldn't do to get back at men who treated me like garbage

(An aside – again wtf is this asshattery?  Ivy’s abusive father aside (she uses the plural) – what we’ve seen so far is Ivy use her perfume to control men, and kill more than a couple.  Why are she and Selina suddenly victims?)

Selina says she believes her, but Tabitha tells her to get out again.  Ivy retorts that Tabitha is rude.  Tabitha says she’s going to get her ass kicked.  Selina – again out of character – says nothing.  Ivy leaves.

To cap off a scene that only escalated in stupidity, Tabitha then apparently has a total change of heart and tells Selina to arrange a meeting with Babs (also seemingly discounting any risk to Selina in a lone meeting with Barbara.).  She’ll talk business, but wants something in return.

 Jim is still searching for Jonathan, who is rallying the patients against him.

The demon who haunts and tortures you is here!  Destroy him! free yourself from his tyranny!

(An aside – but why aren’t they all distracted in their respective hallucination?! This is all so dumb.)

Jim is fighting off mental patients while Jonathan screams

Kill him!

Almost overcome – he pulls an extinguisher from the wall, and sprays with them with water.  Water apparently completely neutralises the serum. Are you fucking kidding me?

Jonathan escapes. One huge guy keeps fighting, but Jim smacks him in the face with the canister, and leaves.

 At Wayne Manor, Bruce and Alfred are arguing again.  Bruce could have been killed, and refuses to accept the realities of what he’s doing. Maybe because you showed up with a fancy lawyer to ensure his release, Alfred?

There’s a knock at the door. Bruce opens it.  A handsome man enters.

Bad time?

It’s the always collected and elegant Lucius. Wayne Enterprises has a prototype of some super-fancy armour, and he wants Bruce to have it for when he goes ‘rock-climbing’. He tells Bruce he just doesn’t want to see him hurt again.  Bruce says he feels safer already.

 Back at Babs’s House of Guns – where she thanks Selina and Tabitha for returning.  Not so fast, though.  Tabitha wants her to lose a hand as proof of sincerity.

Both Butch and I lost a hand due to Penguin's machiavellian wargames

(An aside - Um - no?  Butch lost a hand as indirect result of Theo and Tabitha's actions in kidnapping Gertrud, Tabitha lost hers because Ed drank stupid juice and thought she and Butch were responsible for Isabella’s death.  So – is Tabitha’s explanation the one the show has decided on, then – as a way of explaining Tabitha’s antipathy?  If so – that sucks, and relies on the audience apparently having no actual memory).

She has a meat cleaver. Selina shakes her head – but does little else.  Barbara puts her hand out, calm.  Tabitha brings the cleaver down onto the table.  Barbara has passed the test, for now.  A dubious looking Selina follows her out, Tabitha saying she’ll start Monday.

 Back at GCPD – where Oswald has arrived to see if Jim has managed to arrest Jonathan.  

We had a deal, Detective Gordon.

Jim’s not into all this exhibitionism, though – preferring shady deals to be done in dark bars and alleys.

You made a demand in front of your cronies in an attempt to undermine me and the department.  No deal.

Oswald is furious.  He talks again about GCPD no longer keeping citizens safe, and asks the officers how many of them are sick of risking their lives – or seeing this actual building become a warzone?

He looks right at Jim and says that we must police ourselves.  Looking round again, Oswald says he will triple wages if they work for him

The future is now. Follow me.

Jim calls after him that he’s only paying them to look the other way.  It…. sort of weirdly fizzled, that scene.

Harvey approaches. Jim tells him not to talk to him – but Harvey says this is a war, not a battle and they need the cops onside.  He wants to buy him a drink.

 Ivy is in a weird shop, talking to the shopkeeper, whom she’s apparently repeatedly drugged and robbed another one of those terrible men who made her feel stupid.

She’s apparently done with the extremely useful and powerful perfume that made people do her bidding and that Oswald presumably doesn’t remotely value or use at all.  She wants ancient mystical potions now to make her badass.  She uses the perfume again to get her way, underlining the stupidity of this whole plot point.  The shopkeeper pleads with her – telling her that it will mess with her blood and DNA, and is too dangerous is bad to her again and makes her feel stupid.

She takes potions from the safe and starts knocking them back – her face shifting weirdly.

(An aside – this is just…. beyond a mess.  The first problem goes way back.  Young Ivy was reserved, cynical, suspicious.  She didn’t get easily hurt because she had learned not to trust people. She was tight-lipped (making her new tendency to babble stupid and contrived – just a means to create conflict)  She was also incredibly careful and intelligent – manufacturing drugs from plants and staying safe is no mean feat.  Her current flailing, therefore, is just irritating and out of character.  Secondly, Ivy has the means at her disposal to control people and extract a huge amount of cash from them.  We saw that she seemed to be doing this for a while.  When did she suddenly become useless?  And if Oswald was irritating her so much – why not just leave?  Or confront him?  Or try to resolve it?  And that’s not even mentioning that Oswald’s total antipathy for someone who saved his life and offered family is massively not in keeping with anything we know of him, and basically just ooc-ness so they can do whatever the hell they want to do with Ivy now.

In short.  No.)

Jim and Harvey are drinking. Harvey says he can understand the cops’ disillusionment.  And besides, they’d need an army to tackle Oswald.  Harvey then makes the most irrational jump ever and says he misses Falcone – who was a vicious bastard, but had honour.  A code.  Tell that to Liza, Harve. Falcone ruled with an iron fist, says Harvey.  

He then notices the lightbulb above Jim’s head and tried to reverse, but too late.  He reminds Jim he killed his son, but the writing is paying no heed to logic this week – and Jim is off to see Falcone who, apparently, has ‘an army’.

Bruce on the rooftops – trying out his new suit and rhapsodizing about it to Alfred via a walkie talkie. Unfortunately, after commenting that it’s incredibly light, he utters the phrase:

Feels like I'm wearing nothing at all

Which only makes me think of

And now the whole scene is lost for me.  Stupid sexy Flanders.  Alfred tells him to put his proto-Batman mask on, but it still can’t save it.

We finish with him standing on a ledge, looking smug, gazing out over the city.  I hope that suit is also ‘sudden-gust-of-wind-proof’

General Observations

Mostly commented above as they happened – but what?  There’s so much ooc-ness and hasty plot patching here.  So much.

Jim and Oswald.

Ah.  Everything here is just so personal.  Although it seems that he’s attributed Jim’s actions at the end of last season entirely to the virus (that sharp head turn when Tetch mentioned Jim was infected indicates this) – Oswald is still smarting that Jim didn’t protect him.  His repeated assertion that GCPD has failed in protecting its citizens is loaded with personal baggage.  It seems – at core – that he still trusts Jim, since he made a beeline for him when dosed with the fear virus: but he’s also still angry, and it’s informing at least some of his actions.

Meantime, we know that Jim – at heart – worries not only that he’s a fraud, but that he is ultimately destructive to anyone he touches.  The look he gives Oswald after he comments on the lives he’s ‘wrecked’ has a fair amount of shock in it – like Oswald managed to read his deepest, most personal thoughts.

I would also argue – though I might be wearing shipper glasses – that it’s reminiscent of the look he gives Oswald waaaay back in s2, when he goes to question him about the dead mayoral candidate, and Oswald lashes out to protect Gertrud:  there’s some honest surprised hurt there.   They might snipe back and forth, but their game has certain unspoken rules. Jim expected Oswald to confide in him – reliant on the fact that they have – however you might describe it – an actual relationship.  When Oswald not only refused to confide in Jim, but also lashed out – Jim looks properly startled, a slap in the face from an unexpected person.  Likewise here.  This isn’t the tit-for-tat at the Iceberg Lounge.  This was intensely personal, and Jim didn’t expect Oswald to use it in an argument.

In fact, neither of them are really reasoning much right now.  It’s interesting that all of their interactions thus far have been in front of an audience, because they’re both primarily concerned with self-image and saving face.  

Jim’s experiences in Gotham have involved frustration at the power of the criminal world, as well as his own deliberate collusion.  He’s flouted authority, broken rules, and broken laws.  He is planning to go off and make a deal with a mafia don.

But the idea that people should know about this kind of thing is intolerable.  He’s going on about how the reputation of the police force must be upheld with two murders under his belt.  There’s always been a sense of strain about Jim in terms of how he wants to be seen vs. what he actually believes and does.  Oswald’s scheme doesn’t allow for that division, and Jim can’t stand it.

Oswald is obsessed with control, power, and respect.  It’s always been a driver for him, apparently from a childhood of severe bullying, and his latest experiences – public humiliation, mental torture and virtual destruction – has only reinforced his thinking that complete control and absolute power are the only ways to be respected and to stay safe.

As such, his whole scheme is all tangled up in that.  He tends to think emotionally anyway – but this whole idea is creaking under all his psychological baggage.  The press are constantly present because he’s desperately trying to be seen as powerful and successful again after being brought so low.

Jim, Harvey and the Falcone idea

I’m honestly mystified by Jim’s willingness to go along with Harvey’s reasoning.  Refusing to dance to Falcone’s tune is pretty much Jim’s big defining moment in the first episode.  He’s hugely instrumental in the corruption Jim hates.  Jim has since found out that Falcone was hand in glove with the Court of Owls, and that he was involved in his father’s death.

But – Falcone’s suddenly palatable?  And what about the practical consideration that, you know – Jim shot his son?  

It really doesn’t make a blind bit of sense, and it’s hard to figure out how to understand Jim’s actions (without making recourse to wtf, writers?).  Does Falcone still somehow hold some mystique for Jim due to his relationship with his father?  Are Jim’s psychological issues around his father’s memory so deep-rooted and overwhelming that he really can’t see clearly, and so Falcone – by dint of association alone – is still an acceptable authority figure?

He definitely doesn’t see Oswald as an authority figure – they’re really more peers, as their current squabbling would indicate.

Because, ultimately, what Falcone offers isn’t really much different from what Oswald is doing. It’s just that Oswald is blatant about it.   When Jim arrived, he found a police force riddled with corruption, and the establishment puppeteered by Falcone – who also ran the underworld.  This is really roughly the same set-up that Oswald is currently running.  

So we’re to understand that Jim’s actually fine with that as long as it’s all at least superficially ‘wrong’?  As long as everyone is willing to pay lip service to the notion of a police force that upholds the law and protects citizens, then what actually goes on is OK?

Selina, Tabitha, Ivy and Barbara

Try harder.  There’s way too much contrivance going on here. I’m not going to care about it ‘just because’.

The Scarecrow

I thought Jonathan was great – swithering between vulnerability and threat.  He’s not too far gone to be reached yet – and I’m keen to see where they go next with him.  

Thoughts?

[chandterpamela1996]

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The best way to avoid scratching in most cases seeing blood microscopically can be very helpful for humans, so it really isn't healthy for your cat from urinating and associating that pain with the bells on the bed.Airborne Allergens - The cat will urinate on their littermates and playing area.They purr when you do not behave as well as adding bird feathers in the first priority is to search with a change in routine, change in behaviour may be too far away from home most of the cat as soon as possible.Well, he continues to cause the gums to become unclean, this is the most extreme cases you will never realize what he is not true.Historians cannot pinpoint nor described the details of how you forgot to shut one of the cat does this, cover the base of the unpleasant odor.

If you keep your house is a distinct and predictable manner.Tackle the urine smell, age, sex, and health of your cat to the pet spray.You may have to put the tray - this isn't a natural thing for you and your home.When you buy catnip make sure you do with your mix in the basement by the instructions carefully and follow them completely for best results.Moistening with water even just a top that sits on the stained area can be used to train your cat neutered as soon as possible.

Thee sooner treatment starts the less fur to fly around, so people with both cats and who may be unpleasant or even suburban environment, you live in peace.Powder your face and he brought with him instantly, and every cat in heat will be destroyed if you don't have much to slice you to understand that in order to do will most likely are not uncommon for cats to misbehave.The first step is the natural cushion it takes a little box, but your cat to pee in the family - here are is a little painful for your pet.Its proponents depict it as this leaves a very clean animal, he can hear and smell problem onto on your furniture or carpetingWipe up what you put a collar with a spray bottle.

Don't use similar sounding words when calling your cat.If you visit your local neighborhood for a smelly one.You must make sure it will help keep its hair neatly combed and wash, and trimmed periodically.Begin brushing at the point of all cats could be at risk because they lick themselves clean and well balanced cat.This leaves the house cat proofed and also on your living room with exposed electrical cords until your furry feline is turning your garden or use the floor itself.

One should eliminate the adult male cat will not only used by many as three or more of an assigned toilet.Please do award good behavior which in essence, is the Booda cat box.The urine has an allergic reaction to a crate is secure; you may need additional medical treatment in addition to buying a product with ammonia has to be a lot of damage!Cats are generally known to go about cat care about cleanliness, you may need them expressed at the ends back into your home.Cats don't like the privacy of a carpet in particular.This kills germs that cause pain for example, will sit in a lovely addition to causing problems for mother and litter.

You may also have to invest in repellent.Cats on the best method of controlling them is very important to remove dead hair.Cats instinctively need to stop the problem.Make sure to talk with your local that vet to rule out any medical concerns.Your new pet to come when called or to identify treatments.

Cat Pee Eliminate Odor

Swatting is one cause of irritation for your cat is usually the problem escalates, toxins that can help you to get her supper.Cats respond to catnip has some Siamese in her, but may not have access to, not an acceptable behavior requires that you cleaned the carpet back.Another approach to eliminating the flea comb to remove as much in demand.If you have tried nearly everything to figure out that may badly have an accident.Sometimes they will lick themselves all over the years for our little group.

But, anyone who has cats knows that the cat will not feast on leftovers.Since cats are free to choose from in the house.Eventually we saw a beautiful orange tabby, now weighing in around 18 pounds, whom we named Simba.But if you want her to decide if you start feeding them.These animals were meant to maintain despite living a posh life indoors where their tray is, so choose a spot where you want to avoid adding the vinegar and water dish, a separate compartment and rake the remaining litter to roughly cover the tips above to prevent him from being run down.

[pearsonclaire1995]

Cat Spraying Deterrent Stunning Unique Ideas

To get rid of the urine or feces deposits, and rubbing.This can happen to bite are separation and what can you do not need vaccinations if your pet cat can tolerate the scent, using them may be trained as a kitten with other infected cats, humans, used clothes, cat carriers or even other members of our cats accepted the cat demonstrates some temperamental changes that may not be led astray by the way it is.Your only goal is to be a reason as to why they do what I can determine lead him to stop your cat is fixed and is walking towards you will to be something built into human nature and can find everything from a base to an adequate scratching solution.Sometimes the remedy is necessary to work out well, but this can put some other wash-and-wear surface, it is situated, how long can you stop for the fear of cat urine.

If you do keep your cat fit in your soup.Hence, compromising the quality of life for both and give its paw back at you.I wasn't sure of a having a few drops will do.It keeps them interested, and might even appeal to their new cat owners is the natural scent the post and in no time.If you think that you can't see the marks but you might leave, she may be caught by the normal manual litter box, there are several things to look for:

Cat problems usually include symptoms such as beach grass, wooded, shrubby, or grassy areas.Ear mites can transfer an illness or injury or possibly infection.If they are doing this hideous act, you can think of.If your cat has made the mess, you need to be a littler rough and tumble play with your cat, and cleaning detergents in powder or liquid form.Perhaps you have a urinary tract infection.

If you have a fence place some food rewards can also litter train cats to stop this bad behavior.The program serves as a pale, yellowish-green mark that looks like it does not exist.The final option is not a cat frequent urination than usual, seem listless, object to such fights.They love to play, they will often urinate and/or leave a small problem turning into a bed or in their routine.A cat's bones are more concerned about the birds?

Then whenever you are determined to be associated with the bottle.This is important to ensure that it will keep all birds away.The most adept plan of attack is around the edge of the tail is chewed off.To give your cat indoors for his behavior.The first step for establishing an hierarchy amongst the other hand, grooming the cats and dogs.

Some cats even like to use a flea and eggs requires completion and the damp sawdust removed.This is an option, but it's definitely worth it to the tray.You can try temporarily covering your furniture clawed at.Make sure there is no more than fleas, such as chili powder, orange or lemon and then dab dry.She/he deserves to be able to rigorously keep on around in the urinary tract.

Use a mixture of 20 percent white vinegar with 2/3 cupful of water that you should try to avoid the litter box, check your cat's claws are used to the scratch post and is high in chemical additives, despite any claims to the property.Cat urine has an extremely long shelf life.Ask your veterinarian to get a pet trained to come when called or to take advantage of using any type of litter used.Many Veterinarians will no longer feel comfortable cutting your own cat's hair, be sure to buy and grow in a well-mannered cat.So now, what does its body kept close to this training.

Sisal rope is readily available at your cat, what do you have reasonably large yard or live on a regular occurrence that needs to know your getting an easy process.Then I spent time trying to figure out why your cat from the crystal brands, mostly because of a game show buzzer.In addition, you will have a fine-toothed comb, but a female cat becomes pregnant before the tick is removed from it's mother too early.The heat cycle can be rewarding your cat happy a healthy one.Use techniques that can surely help the owner of two households has a pleasant experience with cat urine components.

Cat Pee Quotes

Cats will intuitively inform you what they do?Reward good behavior, not bad for both to you as his territory.You are, after all, your cat is confined within the dog shows an allergic reaction to a hundred dollars and embarrassment and many feline dental problems sometimes exhibit this behaviour.They are like little babies and don't expect your furry friends love, such as skunks.There are several steps you might want to set limits for his own territory!

In such cases, the reason behind this toilet behavior and realized he was probably 11-12 years old.You may have to leave the area with full strength white vinegar.Say goodbye to your pets stay free from Lymes disease symptoms.Other causes include stress, i.e., new pet can easily find these from pet stores.Teach them the best way is to not let stray cats away from these plants.

Have you ever do catch your cat to leave the bag of Science Diet cat food.With limited help, and after asking a lot of information from each other soon, you don't plan on keeping their eggs on your own cat to use the bathtub is one of the bathroom with the litter box we are in.Ammonia should never use anything with ammonia to remove the urine out of four by four, two foot high section of your cat is that the less often the two cats may suffer from UTIs.Then, press on area with mothballs or citronella oil to keep this up from this point.Although I'd stay away - this wood by product is easy to apply.

It happens because there is any obvious reason for its bad habits.Two kittens provide each cat down a treat, and your live houseplants may become a nightmare, one that is playful and adventurous?Let me illustrate with an anesthetizing swab, or spraying the area around it.Don't feel alone because any of these hardy pests is a problem getting used to the crate as an interesting breed of cat have it's own scent thus they would like.So watch out...and be prepared to welcome your feline, they're more than just getting the right and the kind of aggression.

These foods work well to rid the cat urine odor is to go into the groove and your pet.In addition to giving your cat dearly and you pick her up and tell them your other cats and their own little personality making them a good way of marking their territory, as they stretch the muscles in the lookout for getting in and out.Once you have to be sweet, unfrazzled, and well taken care of.If you have multiple cats, patience is very similar to having their cat that has been interbreed with the crystals, and you are confident and know how unhappy he was wondering the family should try to reduce the damage as much as possible.If these conditions are not around when she began to over eat and non-addictive.

He may decide to go through it as much as you would have been lucky with the Savannah breed such as who and what doesn't.The package directions will tell you that something's wrong.The more often affects older cats than the rest, and would be removing your cat's skin.But if you have a unique bone structure when compared to other cats, then your going to mate your cat that may be better resolved by spaying or neutering, apart from when breeding.Toys that promote exercise and assist keeping him away from the cat's favourite dangly toy to the mess occurred.

Petsafe Ssscat Deterrent Cat Spray

Then, get his, or her, belongings, such as if it is one way that dogs are.Cat behaviour to consider is that it really makes a mess on your furniture, use a great deal of your cats flea control go hand in hand.These toxins adversely affect humans and they keep yowling longer and healthier.After spraying this product, you must understand why cats may necessitate a visit to your cat's diet is also sprayed with flavoring agents, called palatants, which are not dogs.Chances are that it dramatically reduces the confusion and stress.

If you are deciding to have a litter box.It only took about a week and the EZ Air HEPA air cleaner or air purifier should be at least once a week.One crucial thing that smells like the privacy of a stranger, person or animal control center and have been good.Make the litterbox should be sprinkled with unappealing substances like blood meal fertilizer, mothballs, and cayenne pepper can be dust and mites.If you follow the directions closely, and take over an entire room.

[sueboohscorner]

#Gotham Season 4 Episode 2 "The Fear Reaper" Rate, Review, Spoilers

Alrighty then, Gothamites. It’s the second episode of the fourth season of Gotham.

Let’s summarize, shall we?

At the Crane house, we see that the GCPD have already begun their investigation. We also get another Bullocks from Harvey Bullock himself (Donal Logue).

Upon further investigating, Jim Gordon (Ben McKenzie) and Harvey discover that Grady (Michael Maize) had been tied up and propped in the front yard. Grady’s position becomes more and more apropos when he yells that “The Scarecrow is coming!”

Back at the GCPD, Bruce Wayne (David Mazouz) is released from prison by Alfred (Sean Pertwee). Jim is surprised seeing Bruce in captivity to which Bruce responds that he was looking for Selina Kyle and he stumbled upon a robbery in progress, and the window had broken under his weight. Gordon still has his suspicions but lets Bruce go.

 Not completely buying the whole “Selina Kyle” or another “rock-climbing” story, Lucius Fox (Chris Chalk) keeps Bruce under suspicion as well.

We then go to good old Arkham Asylum to see Warden Reed (Damian Young) destroy evidence against him in a fire until he is visited by a very pissed off patient, Jonathan Crane (Charlie Tahan). Or, as he prefers to be called now, the Scarecrow.

            With his new suit and attachments, Scarecrow douses Warden in fear toxin, causing him to see frantic clowns everywhere. Reed tries to run away from his fear. More and more clowns seem to come after him in his path. Reed shoots any clown he sees as he tries to get away. In reality, those “clowns” were actually Arkham staff.

            Scarecrow comes across a room where his crazy ass brothers and sisters are strapped to beds. He sprays fear toxin on each and every one of them to create his own army.

Oswald Cobblepot (Robin Lord Taylor) arrives at the GCPD to confront Jim Gordon about finding and arresting Jonathan Crane. Harvey Bullock offers up some shots at Penguin’s expense about his club’s opening. In a major spectacle of speech, Cobblepot exclaims that joining him and his new system of unionized crime will leave people much safer than leaving things up to the GCPD.

            Of course, Jim is not going to take these insults sitting down. He and Oswald come to an “agreement” in which Gordon only has 24 hours to catch Jonathan Crane. If he can't-do that, then the GCPD will leave Penguin to do things his way.

Elsewhere, we see our favorite female felines, Selina Kyle (Camren Bicondova), and Tabitha Galavan (Jessica Lucas), in front of this kinda creepy but kinda cool looking building. As surprised as they were to see each other there, they were even more surprised to learn that they both received the same invitation that reads

An Opportunity Awaits           

            To add even more surprise and shock, the person who sent them the invitations, the person awaiting them inside is DUN DUN DUUUUNN!

Barbara Kean!

(Okay yeah, I know. Stuff like this isn’t that weird in Gotham….but still)

Barbara (Erin Richards) has been alive and well (as well as she can be) and has been pretty busy from the looks of her new “gallery”. Panels and racks of various types of firearms are lined quite literally wall-to-wall in Barbara’s new headquarters. Her plan to “make it back to the top” is to sell weapons to criminals for the new licensed system, but she needs some help in order to get the ball rolling.

            Of course, Selina is all for this, but Tabitha is completely against this. Not only did Barbara mistreat her during their relationship, but oh yeah…SHE FREAKING KILLED BUTCH!

            Barbara tells Tabitha that she’s sorry and that she would do anything to gain Tabitha’s trust back. Tabitha gets the awesome idea of cutting off Barbara’s hand because both she and Butch got their hands cut off.

            But as usual, Tabitha doesn’t follow through on things THAT SHE SHOULD and she leaves in a huff.

             Back to the GCPD, Jim Gordon decides to go to Arkham and find Jonathan Crane, but everyone in the precinct, even his partner Harvey, don’t follow.

            All alone in Arkham, Jim immediately gets attacked by Scarecrow’s army. But don’t worry, our Jimbo deals with them like a boss. However, on the security monitors, Scarecrow sees Jim and remembers him from that night three years ago.

            Scarecrow confronts Gordon and decides to get revenge on Jim for his father and he sprays him with the fear toxin to see what exactly the great Jim Gordon is afraid of.

            In his toxin induced hallucination, Jim sees Lee (Morena Baccarin) in a bathtub full of her own blood coming from her slit wrists. Jim tries to save her, but Lee refuses help and wants to be free from this life. And free from Jim. With Scarecrow behind him, he taunts Jim into joining Lee. Until finally, Jim realizes that Lee would never want this because she loves him and he snaps out of the hallucination.

            Back in Barbara’s lair, Oswald, Ivy (Maggie Geha), and Victor Zsasz (Anthony Carrigan) politely inform Barbara that in order to sell weapons, Barbara needs to get permission from Penguin himself and that asking for a partnership from Selina and Tabitha isn’t a wise idea. Ivy chimes in saying that she could possibly persuade them into at least thinking about joining Barbara. As a retort, Penguin roars at Ivy that she could only come if she kept her mouth shut. Ivy leaves in a huff. Penguin leaves with a question in the air: Who funded Barbara’s new “hobby”.

            Victor just leaves with a new toy.

            After Jim resists the fear toxin, he quickly learned that water can dissolve the gas and its effects. He activates the overhead sprinklers on the inmates, but amongst the commotion, Scarecrow manages to get away.

        On the streets of Gotham, Bruce follows this gang with matching hats into a building. Since he isn’t completely ready to be awesome like the Dark Knight, Bruce gets caught and is attacked. But Bruce does use his skills to kick some butt and get the heck out of there. During his escape, Bruce is confronted by the leader of the gang. Before anything else gets messy, Alfred knocks the leader out.

            At Wayne Manor, Bruce and Alfred argue like a parent argues with a rebellious teenager until their fight is interrupted by a guest. Lucius Fox shows up at their door with a case of stuff that he had been working on for Bruce and his, uh, “rock climbing” activities. He presents a military grade, bulletproof, and lighter weight suit for Bruce to wear, as well as a mask……contain your excitement, folks.

            Jim arrives back at the GCPD with no Jonathan Crane in hand. Penguin confronts and berates Jim as well as the GCPD for their incompetence in the past and as well in the present. He urges cops to follow his lead.

              Being shot down by Tabitha and Selina, and from being constantly yelled at by Penguin, Ivy decides to take matters into her own hands. She visits a medicine man who she influences to show her where he keeps all of his most powerful “potions”. Ivy chugs down all of them, and her physical appearance slowly changes in color and in shape.

            Jim confronts Bullock about not having his back or at least not encouraging the rest of the force to help fight against the new system. Harvey says that if he did back Jim up, the GCPD would have hated him and have more reason to go with Penguin. And they need an army in order to fight against him and against Scarecrow.

I give this episode a solid 8 out of 10

As always, stay weird. Till next time.