The Joker and Harley Quinn had the Batman tied up and the Joker was waving a cartoonishly large magnum revolver in the Batman’s face. She dropped down silently onto the catwalk behind the three. With a single strike she cracked the pummel of her weapon against the Harlequin of Hate’s skull knocking her out cold. She then swung the electrified shock “blade” of her scythe over and down into the Demon Clown’s arm causing it to spasm and he fired off the revolver harmlessly to the right. She then spun the scythe again and cracked the pummel into the clown’s jaw and then swung it again planting the electrified blade in the man’s taint, arcing blue lightning bolts into his crotch! The Clown keeled over falling off the catwalk into the vat below.
“Let me free you Batman” she said as she reached up to release him from his bonds.
It was then that Harley Quinn came to and looked for her lover.
“PUDDIN!” She screamed as she lunged at the savior.It was almost effortless tossing the crazed clown girl over the edge and into the vat after her lover. But the woman had pulled off her mask leaving her face exposed to Batman.
“Did you hit me with Pheromones?” Batman asked.
“What?” She asked.
“You are even more beautiful than I could have imagined Scarecrow,” Batman looked at his savior, “Please let me repay you.”
Batman kissed Scarecrow and the two came together in a passionate embrace, Batman reaching to unclip the sackcloth covered bullet proof vest…
*
“Professor Katrina Crane?” The voice jolted her out of the day dream.
Kat was seated in the lecture hall going over the Freshman Psyche 101 term papers. In front of her was a tall, dark and handsome man in a sharp suit offering out his hand.
“Caught you wrapped up in your work? Bruce Wayne Pleasure to meet you,” He smiled that million-dollar smile.
It took a long moment for Kat’s brain to finally kick into first gear and all she managed to sputter was a meek “Hi.”
“Dick and Barb speak very highly of you,” Bruce pulled his hand back.
“Ahh,” Kat murmured.
“My ward and Richard Grayson and Barbara Gordon, my ward and his girlfriend,” Bruce said, “They have you for their freshmen Psyche class.”
“Oh,” Kat tried to smile and hoped that it didn’t look to sheepish, “Please forgive me mister Wayne, I teach all of the Freshman classes, this place gets extremely packed.”
Kat gestured to the fifty rows of seats in the lecture theater around her desk.
“So what brings you down here Mister Wayne,” Kat asked politely, “I don’t have a Grayson or Gordon on my problems list.”
“Actually you do,” Wayne said flashing that smile again, “I make it a habit to make rounds of my family’s companies and poke my nose in all the different R&D projects… You know, just let people know I am around and so on. Imagine my surprise when I get a list of people working on projects for Wayne Pharmaceuticals and the kids see their teacher’s name on there. Please tell me what you are working on and how things are going… Is there a chair I can bring up?”
“Might as well sit on my desk Mister Wayne,” Kat spoke as she tried to calm her nerves and shift into sales pitch mode, “I was hired the summer before last after I got my doctorate by Wayne Pharmaceuticals to continue the work I had been doing with the College of Psychological Health here at the University trying to develop a broad base phobia level anti-anxiety medication. In short a treatment for extreme fear like we see in PTSD cases and people who go catatonic when confronted with their phobias, like spiders or something. We have made real progress but Neurochemistry is real tricky. If we could create a drug that gets rid of the fear in PTSD… Well I can imagine all of the militaries and Veterans hospitals in the world screaming; ‘Shut up and take my money!’ Am I right?”
“Government contracts normally try to get volume discounts or generic brands if I understood the lecture from the wheelers and dealers,” Bruce furled his eyebrows.
“It’s an internet meme Mister Wayne,” Kat’s face turned red, “Future-rama, Fry holding wads of… Oh never mind. The point is that something like that could be used to help millions of people each year.”
“Wait the cartoon red head?” Bruce said sounding rather dense, “Yes, Dick has had that on his facebook plenty of times. Keeps sending me pictures of things with that cartoon attached. Any rate, what other treatments are there right now for this sort of problem?”
“Hypnosis has been used in the past, light therapy is sometimes used in PTSD cases,” Kat said, “Both try to reorganize the brain so they access the problem areas without touching a panic node in the brain. UC has been pushing for testing medical marijuana for a while now but the Food and Drug Administration has been slow to approve anything in that line research.”
“Medical Marijuana?” Bruce snickered, “I am sure you have no shortage of students singing up for those studies.”
“We normally stick them in the placebo groups,” Kat sighed.
She got up and went to the white board, she instantly felt self-conscience as Mister Wayne kept watching her. Sure she was six feet tall, but she felt boney thin and the hid in her black turtle neck sweater and ankle length skirt, the inch thick heels of her boots didn’t help her from seeming like a giant over many men.
“Well with all of your studies, classes, and research,” Bruce said, “Is there any time left for Mr. Crane?”
“Mister Crane is Lieutenant Colonel Gerald Crane, United States Air Force, Retired,” Kat sighed, “my father.”
“Oh, Army Brat, that explains a lot,” Bruce said with a fake smile.
“How so Mister Wayne?”
“If your dad kept moving around then you never had a chance to develop long term friends and that is why you are not confident in that nice body of yours.”
Kat imagined herself as an anime character and a water hose of blood exploding out her nose.
“… Ah professor Crane I said that explains why you are focused on helping people with PTSD. Was that wrong?” Wayne asked.
“Ah no,” Kat tilted her head so the glare of her glasses would obscure her eyes, “I sometimes get distracted.”
“Well you were doing great when you were giving your pitch,” Mister Wayne said as he got up and looked at his watch, “Just work on staying focused on transitions and I am sure you will go far professor!”
Bruce got up and shook Kat’s hand, then turned and left.
*
Bruce walked into the cave to the sight of Alfred cleaning off a table that Dick and Barbara had been sitting at in their Nightwing and Batgirl costumes.
“Jason is running around downtown looking for the Scarecrow again,” Barbara snickered.
“I will not have a vigilante running loose in my city!” Bruce shifted into Batman Mode even before putting on the costume and cowl.
“Oh by the way,” Alfred spoke up, “I arranged a date for the gala on Saturday, one Miss Kettle. She said she will be sure to wear black so you two match.”
“Oh burned by the butler!” Barbara snickered.
*
Kat got back to her home and went down into the in-law apartment she lived in. She went about turning on the TV and starting up the DVDs of old TV shows she wasn’t going to watch tonight. In the kitchen she got her two single serve instant cups of mac and cheese, the diced ham bits and salad.
“By the way Mister Wayne,” she muttered to herself, “It’s Doctor Crane, I haven’t gotten a senior lecturer position yet. Of course Mister Wayne I have no self-confidence, why do you think I am holing up in the same school I attended as an undergrad? Of course Mister Wayne, if you complemented me on my body I probably would throw myself at you like a cheap slut…”
Kat kept muttering to herself as she ate. Finally, she was done and tossed the disposable dishes in the trash and went into the hidden room. There she found her confidence, the skin tight dark brown catsuit, the micro wire fishnet suit, the sexy shit kicker boots, the ballistic panel arm guards, the ballistic panel shin guards, the segmented armored skirt, the bullet proof vest and finally the gasmask cowl. She stripped naked and started suiting up, for some reason going commando felt better in the suit than in her college wear. She got on the catsuit, then turned to her attention to her shoulder length brown hair and pulled it up in a French twist. She applied her lipstick, even if no one would see it under her mask. Nest was the fishnet suit, then the boots, the leg guards, the utility belt with the attached armored skirt. She took her time putting on the vest. She then pulled on her elbow length leather gloves and then fitted the forearm guards, she the reverently pulled on the full head encasing mask. She grabbed the brown cloak and her high tech scythe and made her way into the subway access point. Tonight she would continue to prove herself a heroine that would help the city!