Stitched Together

Chapter Six
Therapy Sessions

Doctor Crane could have not prepared for what waited for him in his next therapy session. The patient had been the cause of two doctors quitting and one dead orderly. That was highly impressive. Crane wasn't like other doctors though. He wasn't scared easily. He was usually the one that was doing the scaring. Crane specialized in fear. He had a different approach towards patients then most doctors. He really could care less if they were ever cured. He wanted to test out his fear gas. A formula he had been working on for a while. It let the subject that he was using it on see their worst fears come alive. He even designed a special mask so he wouldn't inhale it during sessions. It was a burlap sack that he kept in his briefcase.

Doll sat in the metal chair casually. Her hands were cuffed in front of her and her legs were chained down to the floor. She wasn't happy to be forced to set there but it was nice to be out of the straightjacket. She could hear the tick of the wall clock behind her and she tapped her fingers on the table in rhythm with it. She heard the door open but ignored it. She wasn't in the mood to play the nice little patient. She was certain this doctor was going to be lots of fun though.

He didn't say a word as he stepped into the room. His strikingly blue eyes watched her as he set down in the only other chair in the room. All that separated them was a metal table bolted to the floor. Their blue eyes studied one another. He was the youngest doctor she had so far. He was thin and his dark hair framed his face. A pair of rectangle shaped glasses covered his blue eyes. He set completely straight in his seat in front of her. He had this air of arrogance surrounding him. Doll fought a smile; she was going to prove who was better. She watched as his eyes traced the scars on her face. They were still noticeable but not as frightening without the added makeup. She raised an eyebrow when he just continued to stare.

He cleared his throat before speaking, “I heard you killed an orderly yesterday.” He told her. He didn't seem like he cared too much. He said it quite casually. Doll was a little intrigued.

“I heard a nurse saying he had a nice set of my teeth marks in his neck.” Doll told him with a small smile.

“You're happy about that.” It wasn't a question.

“I don't like being pushed around. They think I'm just a little girl. They seem to forget why I'm here in the first place. I just showed him who the real little girl was. His screams were hilarious.” She told him. She leaned back in her chair to study him.

“Well, you are a little girl. In size of course,” He commented. She did look rather small and fragile sitting in her bright orange Arkham Asylum jumpsuit and her long hair falling down around her shoulders. With the scars that marked her pretty face she looked more like a victim then a villain. “You won't tell us your age but I would guess anywhere from twenty to twenty-five; pretty young to accomplish what you have.”

“Are you jealous, Doctor?” She asked him with a smirk leaning in towards him. “Do you wish you could be free like me? It's terrible to be locked away isn't it?” Crane shifted in his set. He wasn't quite sure what kind of mind game she was playing now.

“From the way I'm seeing it you're the one locked away.” He told her. He watched as she started to giggle uncontrollably in her seat.

“Oh no, I don't mean locked up in this place,” she said waving her cuffed hands around the room. “I mean it must be terrible to be locked away in your own head!” She told him leaning across the table her eyes twinkling at him dangerously. Her eyes glinted knowingly as she stared at him and a large smile was spread across her face.

Crane's eyes narrowed at hers dangerously as well. He wasn't quite sure what she was playing at. He might have underestimated her intelligence. He thought the other doctors were just weak but he now realized she was quite good at mind games. He realized that there was a reason why she was dangerous. She was highly intelligent and quick on her feet and with her words. She had an uncaring manner to her. She saw the world as a game that she wanted to play with.

“I don't know what you’re talking about.” He told her sternly.

“Sure you don't. They never want to admit it but I'm sure Scarecrow is saying something wonderful in your head right about now. I know I would be.” She told him and took great pleasure in seeing him shift in his chair. He was quite for a moment.

“Would you like to see my mask?” He asked her suddenly as he set his leather brief case on the table. Doll raised an eyebrow at him.

“I would love to doctor.” She answered gleefully, her eyes bright with excitement.

“Now, to a girl like you,” he stared at her pointedly as he said it. “It might not seem to frightening but to my other patients, well they just can't stand it.” He told her as he slipped the burlap sack with eye holes over his face. His blue eyes stared right into hers.

“Hmm so this is why their always screaming Scarecrow... have you ever thought about getting some help doctor? I went to school for psychology once- maybe I could help.” She told him as she bounced anxiously in her seat. The chains around her feet rattled with her every move.

Without warning Crane pushed a button on his briefcase and his fear gas was released into the room. He watched Doll for her reaction. He couldn't wait to see her wither in fear. Scarecrow was free and he had a pretty, little doll to play with. He was going to take her down a few notches starting today. However when he focused back on her he noticed something was terribly wrong. She wasn't withering or trembling in fear- she was laughing. Her whole body shook with uncontrollable laughter.

“You- you're, you're so funny!” Doll said in the mist of her laughter. Crane's face scrunched in confusion behind his mask. He had never received this reaction before- ever. He stared fascinated as she continued to laugh. It was several minutes later that she was finally able to compose herself enough to set back straight in her chair. Her chest moved up and down as she tried to catch her breath. A few giggles escaped her before she was calm enough to speak. “Did you ever wonder what would happen if someone was truly not afraid of anything?” Doll whispered to him. Her body was shaking and twitching as she stared at him. She bit her lip to stop it from twitching as she stared up at him.

“Everyone is afraid of something,” he told her confidently. Doll tilted her head and gazed at him for a moment.

“Well, I'm not screaming from anything though I have to say that mask is pretty hideous. Kind of gross but not something I would deem as scary.” She told him, her voice taking on a care free tone. “Look,” she began sitting up straight once again and clearing her throat. “I'm not like your uh normal patients. I see the world for it's true corrupt self. As far as the people in it go, their just as bad as me except they worry too much. They don't want to get in trouble, or be seen as crazy, but when their forced into a corner their all just monsters. Their all just looking out for themselves.” She explained to him. “The only way to be truly free is to be above the societies rules. Take life into your own hands and do what you want. The world is such a funnier place when there’s chaos in it.”

“And that's what you do? You cause chaos.” He spoke up.

“Yeah, it's fun. You should try it sometime doctor. Let Scarecrow out to play on the big playground- my playground.” She suggested as he tugged off his mask.

“I think the session is done for today.” He told her as he stood up from his chair. The chair screeched as it moved across the floor. “I'll see you next week.”

“Awe, don't you want to play with me sooner? Or do you not like me because I didn't scream out your name for you?” She giggled as he buzzed in the orderlies to take her back to her cell. She smiled at him as they unlocked her feet from the floor and forced her up on her feet. She winked at him as they pushed her forcefully out of the room. Crane continued to stare at her as they escorted her away; he could her hear laughter echo through the hall.

Doctor Crane's sessions with her went about the same as the first. He wasn't sure how she knew about Scarecrow from the very beginning but she did. She often offered to 'help' him. He assumed that she had once suffered from split personalities as well. From what he had pieced together Doll was once the voice in the head of whomever the girl she used to be. Something had happened and now only Doll remained. She spoke very seldom about her past self. Before she was arrested nothing was known about her and very little was known about her now. The doctors before him didn't uncover anything useful and as much as he hated to admit it he hadn't either.

He knew she was incredibly intelligent. She had to be to pull off the stunts she did before she was arrested. She had hinted to the fact she was highly skilled with computers and once upon a time she had studied psychology. He also knew that she burnt off her own fingerprints but her facial scars were another person’s work- someone that she had killed. He assumed that after she got her scars was when her 'other half', as she referred to her as, vanished. She was good at mind games and quick with her tongue. She would twist and turn their sessions to what she wanted to talk about. She only told him what she wanted to tell him. She was never caught off guard or surprised by questions he would ask. She had a comeback for everything he threw at her.

She also was true to her word. He had tried the fear gas on her several times even after it was perfected. She still laughed until she couldn't breathe. It did work on her technically. She saw the frightening scenes that everyone else did she just wasn't frightened by them. She told him it was because she saw the world like that already. It just showed the ugliness that was inside everyone. She always asked him what he was afraid of and that he shouldn't make a weapon if it could be used against him. He didn't take her warning very seriously.

A month after her warning Crane tried to release his fear toxin into Gotham's water system. He succeeded until the new hero Batman stopped him. Batman saved Gotham before too much damage was done. As for Crane, he got a dose of his own toxin and saw the world the way his patients did. He had escaped from the cops and was out being free for the first time. Doll had laughed uncontrollably when she heard the news.

Doll had heard tells about the new hero that they called Batman. Several of the inmates in Arkham were there because of him. He refused to kill anyone- Doll thought that sounded boring. Yet she was intrigued by the tales of the mystery surrounding The Batman. From what Doll had seen and heard Gotham's citizens were finally going crazy. First a doctor, who is supposed to be curing the criminally insane, is just as crazy as the people he diagnoses and now there's a full grown man running around in a bat suit. It made Doll laugh inside of her cell as she wondered what would come next. Luckily for her she wouldn't have to wait long.

Soon Doll would have someone that thinks like she does; someone that understands her ways. Someone that is just as chaotic and dangerous as her. Soon she would get to meet her perfect match. Gotham was in for a rude awaking because they had another criminal that brought back the memories of Doll. He saw the funny side of life and he wanted to show Gotham's citizens for what they truly were. They were dogs just looking out for themselves.

Too bad no one told him that Gotham was Doll's playground and she was the puppet master. Doll was here first and she wasn't sure how she felt about this new guy that was calling himself The Joker. He was too much like her. Ripping of mob banks- she already did that. The scars and the outfit- she did it first. As much as she was interested in him because he definitely was someone she wanted to meet she couldn't help but fell a little ripped off. She felt her vacation was going to come to an end soon.

She was getting bored at the asylum anyway. Now that Crane was gone none of the doctors were willing to take her as a patient. They saw no use in treating her. She wasn't interested in talking to them. They mostly just packed her full of sedatives to keep her calm and left her in her cell most of the time. Luckily for Doll, her ticket out of there was going to present itself very soon. All she had to do was wait. Soon an old friend was going to pay her a visit with an offer she just can't refuse.