Stephanie's Second First Halloween

Chapter 4: In Which A Crowd Of Gothamites Must Use Their Emergency Scarecrow Plans And Are Very Much Not Happy About It

We are getting her caught by Batman. No, Lock-Up! Harv mentally scowled.

We are not getting anyone captured by that creep, not even Ivy. Try again. Harvey responded, internally sighing. He'd been in a bad mood all day, and it was already looking like the night was just going to get worse.

"Oh, give us some figgy puddin', give us some figgy puddin', wha' da Hell even is figgy puddin'?" Joker loudly sang, striding confidently past civilians who dutifully pretended they didn't know who he was. It was an unspoken rule that the Rogues would get to enjoy themselves on Halloween, ever since Scarecrow started taking the night off, and most people respected it.

"Oh, give us some figgy puddin', fer me an' my Puddin'," Harley giggled, twirling around in the middle of the street, "or we'll burn yer house down!"

"Believe it or not, this is them toning it down." Ivy whispered conspiratorially to them. "They must really want you along, big guy."

"Yeah, I'm sure." Harvey didn't even try to stop Harv from rolling their eyes. It was obvious the clowns wanted them along, for whatever fucking reason, the issue was that neither of them wanted to come.

We could always just go home.

The Coin said we had to.

We don't know that. She probably faked it!

We can't risk it.

There's a fifty-fifty shot we're risking it right now, numbskull!

I'd rather not think about that.

Sure, just run away from our imaginary problems, instead of getting the Hell away from our fucking real ones!

Harv gestured their hand at the duo marching ahead of them. Harvey shrugged, wishing he'd just drop it. As far as they knew, this was the Coin's decision, and they had to stand by it. No matter wha–

Screaming people ran past them, clawing at thin air, eyes wild as they catapulted down the street. They were yelling all manners of nonsense, but it was clear that all of them were terrified of things that weren't there.

The people around them who hadn't been affected glared at the Rogues, before running off to follow whatever emergency Scarecrow plan they had this year.

"Spooky's gonna ruin it fer all of us!" Joker whined, frowning sharply for a few moments before his face twisted back to its regular grin. Somehow, he still looked greatly displeased.

"Professah Crane wouldn' go back ta Halloween Heists wit'out tellin' us." Harley argued. As more people ran by, she deflated. "He wouldn', right?"

"Since when does that bitter old crow care about anyone but himself?" Ivy scoffed, marching in the direction the people were running from. "I think it's time to give that stupid man a piece of my mind."

I thought she didn't want to be here anymore than we did?

Broad's defending her dame, oldest tale in the book. Harv paused. Okay, well, maybe not. Hey, Fear Toxin is a great excuse for getting out of this whole thing! Those bozos won't even think about the fact we aren't immune like they are until it's too late.

It says something about his mood that Harvey actually went along with that plan without argument, quietly following the other three, looking forward to when the Toxin wore off and they could salvage the last bit of their quiet night at home.