//------------------------------// // Chapter 33: Terror // Story: Young Amazons // by Wanderer D //------------------------------// Young Amazons By Ackbarfan5556 Executive Produced By Wanderer D Chapter 33: Terror     It was a fairly peculiar summer day in Gotham. What should’ve been a practically scorching noon was actually fairly cool thanks in part to a cold front and nice breeze that was moving across the region. Despite the abnormal weather, life went on for Gotham, including Detectives Bennett and Yin who walked out of a coffee shop.   “So, you think Williams had Zielinski killed?” Ethan asked as he opened the car door.   “Zielinski was the only man who knew Williams’ accounts and what money was going through them,” Ellen said. “Not even his wife knew.”    “Is it that common for wives not to know their husband’s checkbook in these kinds of cases?”   “I pulled quite a few of these cases back in Metropolis; when it comes to guys with a large amount of cash in their pocket, their significant other tends to be out of the loop,” she said with a chuckle.   “Okay, well, as we’ve discovered, Williams had some gambling debts and that he was in deep. Then, suddenly, his grandmother passes and leaves him a hefty inheritance.”   “If you believe that she leaves him almost eight figures worth of money for him,” Ellen reminded him.   “Hey, he’s from New England; a lot of old money out there. But yeah, pretty suspicious, especially considering that call this morning informing us that she passed away two years ago.”   “Want to bet his excuse was that it was all tied up in the courts with his family fighting over it?”   “Oh, I’d love to hear what he’s got,” Ethan continued. “Anyways, more than likely, he stole the money from his company, Zielinski notices and decides to go to the police about it.”    “Only Williams found out about it so he gets our friend O’Malley to try and take him out, making it look like a mugging gone wrong.”   “Only he was not used to this and as soon as those officers showed up to the alleyway, he panics and runs, only leaving Zielinski in a coma.”   “So, if we put Williams amongst a line up, you think O’Malley would identify his employer?” Ellen asked.   “I think so, and if Zielinski comes out of his coma, then he can tell us what Williams wanted to hide so bad.”   “Then let’s pay Williams a visit.” Ellen said as Ethan started up the car, only for the police scanner to start beeping.   “Attention all nearby units, we’ve got a situation at the Great Lakes Credit Union on Wallcroft. Any cars respond,” the man said.   “That’s five blocks from here.” Ethan told her. He could already tell she was wanting them to respond to the scene. “What do we do about Williams?”   “Call someone to pick him up and bring him to the station,” she told him before picking up the scanner’s communicator. “This is Detectives Yin and Bennett. We’re on our way.”   The two of them drove towards the credit union, expecting a typical scuffle or perhaps even a hold up; when they arrived, it was nothing they could comprehend.   The detectives were now sitting in a hospital waiting area several hours later before Rojas walked in. He was dressed rather casually considering he was taking a few days off. He had been told the news and hurried to the hospital, not even taking time to get dressed in his normal uniform.   “Sorry. I got held up by traffic there. What on Earth happened this time?” he asked as he took a seat opposite from them.   “Two officers down when we came to the scene,” Ellen explained. “Officers Keith Park and Ricardo De León made first contact with what was happening there. I stayed with them while Ethan went in.”   “Which was nothing. Aside from a few busted change machines, some broken in boxes and any other place that money could be found that wasn’t the main safe, there was no sign of anyone else inside, especially our thief.” Ethan said.   “Seems whoever charged in let everyone evacuate before he started to rob, only for the officers to arrive and him to… well, hit them with whatever it was.”   “Which was?” Rojas asked.   “No idea, sir. When we got there, both men were on the ground screaming. Park was screaming that he was being swarmed by cockroaches while De León claimed he was on fire. Of course, both of them were fine, at least to us.”   Rojas raised an eyebrow before sighing and closing his eyes.   “So what’s their status?”   “Right now both of them are still in critical condition, though the doctors say they’re stable,” Ethan explained.   “If you want, sir, some CCTV footage was just brought over a minute ago. We can watch it in another room,” Ellen said.   Rojas stood up.   “Do it. I want to know exactly who attacked two of my officers,” he said with a look of almost sheer anger. If looks could kill, that would be one of them.   The trio soon were allowed a small room and a TV with a DVD player was rolled in for them to view the footage. Ellen quickly set things up for them before the TV began showing part of the street where the credit union was located.   “This was taken from a nearby store that likes to keep an eye around it,” she told them. “Any footage from the Grand Lakes Credit Union was clearly wiped.”   “Hold up, that time up there… we were still getting coffee then… this was like fifteen minutes before we even showed up.” Ethan pointed out.   “Would explain how the guy wiped the footage then stole a bunch of money,” Rojas grumbled as he leaned back before the footage showed a dark clad man leaving a nearby alley. He jumped up excitedly. “Hold it! There’s our man!”    “What…is that he’s wearing?” Ellen asked.   “If I remember my history, Detective, that’s a Plague Doctor’s uniform, though that certainly isn’t a crow’s mask or whatever they had on.”   “Well, I think he has a gas mask on. From the looks of it, I think that’s an old First World War one. I think I saw it in a picture once. It was one where they even had a mule wearing one.”   “And I recognize what he has on his back.” Ethan added. “That’s a flamethrower from the Second World War. My grandfather was in a construction battalion in the Pacific and had to carry that a few times. You never knew when the Japanese would jump out and attack, he told me.”   The three of them continued to watch the video as the man walked in before a crowd of people ran out, leaving the place empty. A squad car pulled up within three minutes of him walking in.   “The time is still twelve, eleven minutes before we arrive,” Ellen said.   The footage showed the two officers running in before coming back out in complete terror a minute later. Both were rolling on the ground. After fast-forwarding, Ellen and Ethan’s car pulled up before she hit pause.   “Great. Another maniac has shown up,” Rojas sighed as he stood up. “I’m gonna have to talk to Gordon about this.”     After the long vacation/adventure the girls had been on during their trip to Italy, one of the first things they decided on doing together since returning back to Gotham was one of the most stereotypical things girls like them could do:    Shopping at the mall.   The three of them split up, which left Sunset alone as she just walked amongst the crowd taking a glance at the many shops and their windows, seeing if anything interested her. Of course, her mind was mostly elsewhere, thinking more about how to improve her crime fighting abilities rather than just taking in the sight.   “Excuse me, young ma’am!” Sunset’s train of thought stopped as soon as she heard that before turning to see a brown-haired man with glasses at a lone kiosk looking at her. “Would you like to take a sample of one of my fragrances?”   Sunset walked over and looked it over. The man had a pretty small collection and all of them looked mostly the same. She had to assume that he was mostly self-funded and supplied and was now trying to make some cash.   “Bit of a simple shop you have here, if you don’t mind me saying,” she told him.   “It’s no problem. I get it. I just wanted to try out my stuff and rather not go through the whole system that is perfume companies and all,” the man explained. “Go directly to the public with it, you know?”    “Smart plan, actually. Less likely to get cheated by the companies and their legal tricks.”   “Exactly!” He pointed at her. “And since you obviously sound interested, please, take a sample,” he said before grabbing one of his small bottles… and accidently spraying it in her face.   “Ahh!” Sunset quickly shouted as she covered her face and tried to wipe the liquid off.   “Oh, I am so sorry!” he apologized.    Sunset was having none of that as she ran for the nearest bathroom to clean her face. She managed to dash into one of the public bathrooms and ran up to the sink before starting to splash water on her face, making sure to try and get anything that may have got her in the eyes.   “Didn’t even smell like any kind of fragrance,” she growled as she finished splashing her face. She grabbed a paper towel and dried her face before throwing it away and taking a deep breath as she looked into the mirror.   A moment later, she felt a massive sharp pain in her chest and grabbed it tight as she dropped the floor. She could barely keep her eyes open due to the pain, but could already tell she was alone in the bathroom.   “Is this… am I having a heart attack?” She wondered as she tried to stay awake before slowly finding the pain beginning to leave just as fast as it came. Sunset sat there on the bathroom’s floor as she took several breaths and tried to calm down.   “What was that?” she asked before her communicator buzzed. She made a quick double check to make sure she was alone before pulling it and answering it. “I’m in the Gotham Memorial Mall’s bathroom right now. I’m alone, but try not to say anything too revealing just to be safe, okay?”   “I understand,” Batman’s voice echoed on the other end. “Just contacting you to tell you that two officers were attacked earlier and sent to the hospital. Their attacker was a strange man in a peculiar getup.”   “Some sort of new supervillain?” Sunset asked.   “I’m not sure yet, but I’m looking into it. Just wanting to give you and the girls a heads up and keep your eyes peeled for anything suspicious.”   “Okay, thanks for that. I’ll pass it on,” she said before the communicator turned off. Sunset sighed before walking out of the bathroom, her mind still concerned about her chest pain before her eyes caught a glimpse of something that made her rub them.   First of all, the man and all his stuff was gone from the kiosk. It was almost as if he was never there to begin with, but she just assumed he quickly ran off before she could come back and say anything else to him.   But that wasn’t what caused her to check her vision. No, she was sure she just saw a familiar sight amongst the crowd of people walking in front of her, but lost track of it. A part of her was now worried that she was starting to lose it. Sunset decided that it was best if she went back home.   She pulled out her phone as she started walking towards the exits.   “Hey, girls,” she said as both Pamela and Barbara joined the party line. “I’m going to head back home alright, I’m not feeling too great right now.”   “Something you ate disagreeing with you?” Pamela asked. Sunset remembered they all did have food from the food court so maybe that could have been the reason for her little medical scare.   “Eh, might be. Anyways, like I said, I’m just going to relax for the rest of the day.”   “That sounds like a good idea. We should probably wrap things ourselves, Pam. My dad just called and said that a large storm surge is moving in tonight and we’re going to be getting some real bad weather,” Barbara informed them.   “Okay then. You girls stay safe then and we’ll see each other tomorrow then,” Sunset said.   “If it’s still not looking like a total nightmare of a storm tomorrow,” Barbara joked, causing all three girls to chuckle.   “Oh, by the way,” Sunset added. “Our friend said to keep an eye out for a new supervillain running around.”   “Did he say anything else? Like maybe what this villain looks like?” Pamela asked.   “Uh, didn’t actually cross my mind to ask,” Sunset nervously chuckled.   “Okay, we’ll keep our eyes peeled, Sunny,” Barbara said before she hung up and Sunset could hear another hang up indicating that Pamela did the same.   Sunset walked a few blocks before she felt a familiar feeling coming over her. The pain in her chest had returned. She clutched her hand around her heart as she ducked out of the way of the sidewalk and fell down in an alley as the pain died once more.   Of course, that was nothing compared to when she glanced up and saw something at the end of the alleyway that made her eyes widen to the point that they could pop out. Her blood ran colder than the ice caps.   It was impossible, but she couldn’t deny what she was seeing. The figure appeared to be female and had on an outfit similar to her Alicorn uniform but more twisted. Her skin was much more red than normal skin; she had two large bat wings; her hair was almost a towering inferno of flame; her ears were pointed and finally there were her eyes. Her sclera, which was supposed to be white, was pitch black while her eyes were a glowing light aqua that shined in the shaded alleyway.   Sunset’s nightmare was standing away from her. She found herself staring right into the evil eyes of Demon Shimmer.   She almost screamed, but she couldn’t find her voice as Demon Shimmer just continued to give her an evil grin before a ring of fire opened up beneath her and she sank into the asphalt, leaving Sunset all alone.   Sunset didn’t know why this was happening, but she knew what she was going to do next.     “You’re absolutely sure about this?” Pamela asked as the three of them met up at Sunset’s apartment. The weather outside was already looking bad as night was approaching and the dark storm clouds were moving into the region.   “Do you think I would make this up?” Sunset stood up from her chair after explaining what had happened. “I don’t know how, but I’m one hundred percent sure that my she-demon side is running around Gotham doing who knows what!”   “But this doesn’t make sense,” Barbara said. “I thought Demon Shimmer was destroyed when she was hit with the Elements of Harmony, at least, that’s what I remember from your story.”   “I thought so too, but yet, she’s here.”   “I… I think I may have a theory,” Pamela said. “It may be possible that she wasn’t destroyed, but perhaps split off of you. Creating a separate entity if you will. In short, a second Sunny, but all the truly bad elements that you were before the Elements.”   “But that doesn’t explain… well, anything,” Sunset pointed out. “If that was the case, where was she all that time after I jumped across the multiverse? If so, how in all the known universes did she know to come here?”    The girls were quickly back to square one in terms of theorizing how Demon Shimmer was in Gotham.   “Girls… I’m… I’m scared…” Sunset admitted as she sat back down. “I know her. I know what she’s capable of, and now there’s certainly nothing that will hold her back from doing all sorts of terrible things.”   “Plus there’s no Elements of Harmony to stop her in her tracks,” Barbara added before Pamela gave her a look. “Sorry. Wrong thing to say.”   “Sunny,” Pamela walked over to Sunset and gave her a hug. “You’re okay to be scared, but you should know you’re not alone with this. We’re not going to let you take on your dark side by yourself. After all, you two refused to give up on me when I fell into my madness, so it only makes sense for me to return the favor.”   “Yeah, Pam’s right,” Barbara said, joining the hug. “We’ll be right next to you when we help you take down this she-beast once and for all. You’re our best friend, Sunny. You don’t even need to ask us to help with this.”   Sunset teared up as she tightened her arms around both girls.   “You two!” she cried. The scene of the three friends embracing each other lasted for almost thirty seconds before Sunset’s cell phone rang. The three of them froze up before Sunset leaned over and grabbed it. The number was unknown, but she still answered it.   “H-Hello?” Sunset stammered.   “Oh, I was almost worried you wouldn’t pick up in the first place.”    Sunset’s blood ran cold as she easily heard her distorted voice. She quickly motioned the girls to go away for a moment as she ran to her room and closed the door.   “What do you want? How are you even here?”   “All in good time, Sunny. Of course, I would ask how you’ve been, but, well, I already know everything so that doesn’t matter. I’m calling because I want us to have a face to face conversation.”   “Look, you want a fight, you’ll get one, just name the place.”   Demon Shimmer laughed.   “Ah, the fiery spirit still hasn’t left you. The old Gotham State Fairgrounds on the south side of town past the outskirts. Be there in the next two hours. I don’t care about the storm. It makes it more fitting I think.”   “You’re making a big mistake coming back,” Sunset growled.   “Not as big of a one if you don’t come alone. You bring Pam and Barb along, and trust me, I will make you all hurt so bad. I wonder who I should go after first… burning her plants and killing her mother would probably cause Pam to fall once more. She is the weak link of your little group.”   Sunset’s heart nearly stopped upon hearing all that.   “Of course, I could cripple the city and make Barb an orphan at the same time. Taking out a hospital and several high-ranking members of Gotham, including the good commissioner, wouldn’t be much of a problem.”   Sunset’s heart was on the verge of stopping now as her dark alter-ego continued to talk.   “And speaking of orphans, perhaps I should pay a visit to the Batcave? Bruce certainly would pose a challenge, but in the end he’d burn along with his manor.” Demon Shimmer then laughed that cold, twisted laugh before adding, “And just to twist the knife, maybe I should kill Alfred in front of him too.”    “No! Leave them all alone! I’ll come! I’ll come!” Sunset begged.   “Two hours.”    She then heard the tone indicating that she was hung up on. Sunset took a deep breath before slowly walking back out of the room to Pamela and Barbara.   “What happened?” Barbara asked.   “She wants a fight, but I have to come alone,” Sunset explained.   “That’s not going to happ-“ Pamela tried to say.   “She’ll kill both your families if you come!” Sunset blurted out, causing both of the girls to freeze up. “She knows everything. If I come alone, then she’ll back off on hitting you in your homes.”   “Sunny…” Barbara muttered.   “I’m sorry. This is something I have no other choice but to do. You two go back home and try to keep close to your families, just in case…”   “In case what?” Pamela hesitated to ask.   “In case I don’t make it.” Sunset grabbed both girls and brought them into a hug before handing Barbara her Bat Communicator. “If that happens, get in touch with both Batman and Zatanna. They might be able to stop her.”   “We will.” Barbara said before Sunset went back to her room to get ready.   “Okay, you want a fight so bad? You’ll get one,” Sunset said to herself as she looked out the window. One thing was for sure, she was going to do whatever it took to end her demonic side once and for all.     Sunset was sort of glad it wasn’t Halloween. What with the large storm with constant lightning strikes and the creepy atmosphere of the abandoned fairgrounds, it all seemed so perfect for the holiday.   Sunset steeled herself, despite currently getting drenched. Of course, a quick spell would fix that, but she wanted to save as much magic as possible for the upcoming fight. She didn’t even bother wearing her mask since there was little point about hiding her identity from what essentially was herself.   She looked around at the dilapidated place and was wondering where the demon was until two large trails of fire burst from the ground. Sunset quickly noticed it was burning side by side, which meant that it was her dark side leading her somewhere. She walked between them as she soon headed towards the abandoned big top tent.   As she walked in, the whole place was dark. The trail soon ended near one of the wooden bleachers. Sunset guessed that she wanted her to sit down so she did just that before some lights opened up on a stage at the center of the tent.   “Ladies and gentlemen, you’re just in time for the show of the century!” Demon Shimmer’s voice echoed out before she appeared in a wave of fire at the center. Her outfit was now less like a twisted Alicorn one and more like a messed up Zatanna outfit. Sunset suddenly felt that heart pain once more and quickly realized it seemed to happen whenever her dark side was near.   “Alright, I’m here now. Are you going to at least answer some of my questions before we do this?” Sunset said as she stood up.   “Easy there, we still have some entertainment before that, Sunny,” Demon Shimmer chuckled. “For instance, how’s about we give a hand to our captive audience!”   She materialized a wand before slamming it on the ground. Seven wooden boards popped up from some trap doors behind Demon Shimmer. A quick spin of her wand and Sunset went into total shock as the boards turned around to reveal seven captives who were bound and gagged against them.   The captives were Barbara, Pamela, their respective families, Alfred and finally Bruce.   Demon Shimmer gave a sinister glee. “Impressed? It wasn’t even that much of a challenge. They never even saw it coming.”    “You said you would leave them alone if I came!” Sunset shouted, her fist shaking in fury.   “I lied. Don’t act surprised, it’s what we were best at. How many people did we hurt with our lies? Applejack, Fluttershy, Pinkie Pie, Rarity, Rainbow Dash… how close of a friendship those five had. And how quick we destroyed it with our deceit.   “It wasn’t even the lies. We had so much power before you decided to waste it all on… friendship.” She spat upon saying that.   “If you already know everything, then you know exactly why I changed,” Sunset shot back.    “Yes, yes, the isolation and all that garbage. You’ve denied your true self for far too long, Sunny, but it doesn’t matter anymore. I’m finally free now and I don’t need you anymore, so you can feel free to die as a goody two shoes.” Demon Shimmer taunted.   “I’m the only one you want, not them. Let. Them. Go.” Sunset demanded.   There was a tense standoff before Demon Shimmer shrugged her shoulders.   “Okay.” She said as she snapped her fingers… and in less than a second all seven prisoners were engulfed in towers of flame.   Sunset could feel her heart suddenly shatter as Demon Shimmer continued to smile before the fire died down, leaving nothing.   “Oh, I’m sorry. Did you mean just simply letting them leave here and go back to Gotham? I thought you meant letting them go of this mortal plane of existence. Honest misunderstanding.” She teased before quickly running out of the tent.   Sunset immediately chased right after her. Her eyes were full of tears with how her whole new life that she had built in Gotham had been all but taken away in such short fashion, but she was also now seeing red as well. She would avenge all those she failed to save by killing her alter-ego.   The two of them dashed through the storm as Demon Shimmer soon ran into another building before Sunset ran in behind her, only to come to a stop at the sheer darkness that surrounded her.   It didn’t last long as some lights somehow came on before Sunset found herself completely surrounded by Demon Shimmer. She had walked right into a mirror fun house.   “What’s the matter, Sunny? Don’t know where the real me is?” Demon Shimmer taunted as Sunset ran further in, trying desperately to find where she was and end her immediately.   “You’re… gonna… pay… for… everything…” Sunset tried to say while keeping the flow of tears back. Her anger and rage was the only thing that was keeping her from breaking down.   “Aw, what’s wrong? Sad that I killed almost everyone that cared about you? That I easily ended all of their lives?”   Sunset said nothing as she continued to try and find her. She was now starting to break the mirrors in order to reduce the number of hiding places.   “Oh, Sunny, that’s seven years of bad luck for everyone you break. Of course, you won’t be living seven years.”   “I will… ahhh!” She screamed as she smashed another mirror. “…Find you…”   “You couldn’t find me before. When the Elements struck us, they split us apart. I just lied in wait for my chance to strike. And I did strike once you left. Do you think there’s anything left for you if you get back to Equestria? Ha! It’s nothing more than a burning plain now! You’ve lost everything!”   “Not… everything…” Sunset lost the will to even fight with every word that she heard. Was Demon Shimmer telling more lies or was it the truth?   “Oh, that’s right. I almost forgot about Zatanna. You know, it just occurred to me. She seemed fairly upset about what you did in terms of stopping Clayface and all that… I wonder, would she even want to look you in the face again if she knew the truth? In fact, I’d think she’d be probably trying to destroy you herself if she knew the truth.”   Sunset came to a stop as she dropped to her knees and saw herself surrounded once again.   “This is how it all ends, Sunset. You can’t deny our true destiny. We were meant to rule, one way or another. And if I had to destroy everything that you cared about to do it, then so be it.”   The tears ran down Sunset’s face as she finally came to grips with what had happened. She had failed everyone, including herself, and that there was no stopping her demonic alter-ego.   “Now, hold still. You won’t feel a thing!” Demon Shimmer shouted.   “Alicorn,” Sunset’s eyes opened wide as she heard Bruce’s voice. In the mirrors, Demon Shimmer clutched her chest.   “No! No! I was so close! Just a bit more time!!!”   “Alicorn, wake up.” Bruce’s voice echoed.   “NOOOO!!!” Demon Shimmer screamed before she shattered like glass in the mirrors, which was soon replaced by the visage of the Dark Knight.   “Alicorn, wake up,” he said again before everything went black for Sunset.   “AHHHH!!!!” Sunset screamed as she suddenly sat up before being restrained by something holding her down. The fun house mirrors were now replaced by what looked like a rundown warehouse.   “Take it easy, Alicorn. Easy,” she heard Batman say as she felt a prick in her arm before glancing over to see him injecting a syringe in her. “This should fully purge the toxin from your body.”   “What? What… no, where am I? Where is she? What happened to her?” Sunset had a million questions running through her mind. For starters, she could tell she was now being restrained on a hospital gurney.   “First of all, you’re in a rundown warehouse where you’ve been used as a test subject for the past few hours. And, this is important so listen carefully to me, Alicorn, whatever it is you think you were seeing or hearing, it wasn’t real. It never was. It was your fears messing with your mind. All brought on by a fear toxin.”   “I… wait, really?” Sunset couldn’t really believe what she was hearing, but it made a bit of sense considering her new surroundings, and the fact that Batman was before her and not incinerated from magical fire.   “Yes, everything is fine. From what I heard, you were muttering and screaming for a minute there. Just take a few breaths and let the antidote work.”   “You just had to ruin my fun, didn’t you, Batman?”    Both Sunset and Batman turned to see a man in the shadows walk out before one of the few lights in the building came on, revealing the man that Sunset remembered as the perfume salesman.   “You!” She exclaimed, pointing at him.   “That would be Dr. Jonathan Crane,” Batman explained as he helped free Sunset from the restraints.   “Please, Batman. That name has no meaning here,” the man said with a smile before putting on a gas mask and revealing he had what looked to be a flamethrower on his back. “You can call me Scarecrow.”   Batman handed Sunset a gas mask. “Here, put this on,” he said. She quickly did as she was told.   “I have to say, I was quite surprised to find out one of my few test subjects just happened to be the civilian persona of Alicorn. Shame I couldn’t get a name from you, dear. Doesn’t matter though, you’ll probably be driven mad or die of fear soon enough.”   “That’s not going to happen,” Sunset said defiantly as she quickly rolled her shoulders and got ready to fight.   “And very foolish of you to give up your mask, Dark Knight. I actually prefer it. Now then, let’s find out what scares you.” Scarecrow laughed as he pulled the trigger on the flamethrower. However instead of flames, it was a brownish green gas that came out. Fear gas, Sunset quickly guessed as both of them moved out of the way.   Batman quickly went up into the warehouse’s rafters while Sunset dashed around the room, staying a few steps ahead of the torrent of gas that was coming after her.   “Stay still, both of you!” Scarecrow growled as Sunset decided to move in for the attack. She was feeling upset for being used as a test subject and having her fears preyed on that she was more than willing to take revenge.   She jumped right over the nozzle of the gas thrower and delivered a swift kick to Scarecrow’s face that ended up knocking off his gas mask.   When she landed, she turned around. The butt of the thrower headed straight for her face, which ended up knocking her to the ground and cracking the plexiglass seal of her gas mask. She gave a quick sigh of relief, realizing that it didn’t cut her in the eye or any other part of her.   Sunset looked back up to see the manic look on his face, but also Batman up in the rafters with a Batarang at the ready, and she could tell by the glowing red light on it that it was an exploding one.   “Now then, how fast will you break when I give you the full force of the gas?” Scarecrow said before the sound of metal clanging rang throughout the warehouse. Scarecrow turned around to see the Batarang embedded into the flamethrower tank.   “Maybe we should ask the same question for you,” Sunset smirked as she pulled a backflip that got her off the ground and out of the way.   “GAHHH!!!” Scarecrow roared with fury before the Batarang detonated. Sunset quickly cast a small shield spell to keep shrapnel from flying, but the small explosion burst the tank and quickly engulfed Scarecrow in his own fear gas.   “AHHH! AHHH!” Sunset could hear his screams as Batman landed next to her and pulled out another syringe. Once the gas dissipated, Batman quickly gave him the injection, which caused him to start calming down. Batman then gave him a swift punch in the face, knocking him out.   “He hoped to get us in an ambush, or that the gas would last longer and cause us to be affected,” Batman said.   “Probably. I’m guessing if he comes back, he’ll fix his short range issues. Hey, how did you manage to find me?” Sunset asked.   “It wasn’t easy. I was first suspicious when you answered my message and sounded off. Then I got in touch with the girls and they were concerned when you seemed to vanish.”   “Alright, I get it. Did you quickly come up with that antidote?”   “No. Crane made it himself, probably just in case he gassed himself by accident. I can’t imagine how I would’ve helped you without it.   Sunset rubbed her arm.   “Um, how much exactly did you hear? I mean, I can explain, but…”   “You don’t have to explain anything, Sunset. Crane played on your darkest fears, things that none of us like to talk about. I won’t ask you to reveal anything.” Batman said.   Sunset gave him a small smile.   “Thank you. Seriously.”   “Anyways, I’m going to take Crane and hand him over to the police,” said the Caped Crusader. “You should probably get home.”   Sunset nodded as she walked away from Batman and headed for the exit. As soon as she walked outside, she took a deep breath and sighed. She was glad that her nightmare was finally over.      A few days later, a real thunderstorm had come over Gotham when several orderlies at Arkham were wheeling in a restrained Crane towards his cell.   “Hey, Langstrom! You got a new neighbor! Guy is a crazed doctor just like you!” One of the orderlies laughed as they threw Crane into the padded cell before locking the door.   “Ah, I see. Another fellow scientist whose work has been tainted by the public because the simple minded fools cannot tell the difference between genius and insanity,” Langstrom said aloud in his cell so Crane could hear.    All he got in response was a laugh.   “Oh, not insanity, Dr. Langstrom. My work is merely just pure evil,” said Crane with a slither in his voice. There was a short pause.   “Now tell me, what is it that you fear?”