Take It Off

Chapter 4: Everybody Take It Off!

Scarecrow. The King Of Screams. The Master Of Fear. The Lord Of Despair. The God Of Terror. That's what Gotham, what the world, knew him as. Which is precisely how he wanted it.

Mr Crane. Lunatic. Monster. Patient. Inmate. Scum. That's what's Arkham called him. The nurses, the guards, the therapists -- they whispered so much worse when they thought he couldn't hear.

Now he was out and about, burlap snugly over his face, entering through the back door of a place that was much too shiny and loud. A place that was always too cold and too crowded for his tastes. Home.

"Heya, Professah Crane!" Harley is the first to greet him, always, sneaking up for a hug he doesn't flinch from. "How's it been?"

"Very well, Child." The words sound strange in the raspy voice of his demonic form. Corvin notices his distress and Unbinds from him, trotting off to pilfer snacks. Jonathan stretches his human body, burlap barely muffling his voice "And you, Ms Quinn?"

She goes on and on about some heist she pulled with the Joker, Jonathan stops paying attention a few minutes in, but understands that the Clown was caught and couldn't make it tonight.

"A month and a half to escape? You're slipping, Jon." Ed smirks from where he's setting up a projector, in front of a long table. "Tsk tsk, perhaps you're getting too old for all of this?"

Jonathan rolls his eyes behind his mask, sitting down at the table just as the others arrive. Every month or two, whoever's on the outside meet up to schedule their plots, make sure no one gets in each other's way. Of course, no one really follows the schedule, but Oswald still insists on the meetings.

"Hello, Crane." Twoface smiles pleasantly, sitting in his regular chair. He scowls and adds "Where've you been, Spooky?"

"Arkham." Jonathan answers. He might say more, but he's interrupted by something tackling him out of his chair and onto the ground. He panics for only a second before he realizes what's happened and sighs. "Hello, Jervis."

"March Hare!" The short man hugs him tightly, barely letting him sit up. "I missed you. You haven't shown up for teatime in ages!"

"My apologies." Jonathan mutters and gets back into his chair, keeping half an ear on the other's ramblings. He doesn't think about how almost anyone else would've gotten a taste of his Fear Toxin for that stunt.

Ivy, Croc, Clayface, and Fries all file in soon enough. Oz and Selina are last. Oz spends a good three hours trying to get everyone to agree on a schedule, and they eventually do with the usual shenanigans.

Everyone knows they won't follow it, but they hardly care. They spread through the mostly-empty Lounge, laughing and chatting. Jonathan plans on finding Corvin and going home before-

Too late. Jervis drags him over to a table full of their colleagues and, before he really knows what's happened, Jonathan's mask is off his head. A drink's in his hand, he's rolling his eyes at someone, and he's trying not to let how much he's enjoying himself show.

Professor Crane. Jon. Spooky. March Hare. That is what the Iceberg Lounge, the Rogues, his colleagues, his friends, his family call him. Because only among them is he neither monster nor inmate.

Only around them can he take off his masks.