Jonathan Crane was having a good day. His latest batch of fear toxin had shown an increase in potential potency and he suspected that it would be his most impressive thus far and the human testing he had already conducted had supported this new hypothesis. The new toxin also had the great side-affect of inducing a mild paralysis while the toxin was in effect and this new feature made his criminal life considerably easier. He had had a few close calls with recent patients who had turned aggressive while under the toxin and he had been forced to kill them before they could do any real damage.

It was a shame really. Quite a few of them had shown great potential to be interesting subjects but he would just have to find some new participants. He had only escaped from Arkham Asylum two weeks previously and he was officially bored with laying low. Plus he had to replenish his funds. Participants and lab equipment could be carefully stolen but certain chemicals had to be imported and that came at a hefty price which was the reason he had been forced to pull a quick bank robbery.

Bank robberies were not Jonathans' forte. He was a scientist, not a thief, and he didn't enjoy the physical and risk aspects of such a public crime. Usually if he was in desperate need of money he would work with another rogue so he could avoid the heavy lifting. Unfortunately, his usual associates weren't available at the minute since both Croc and Dent were still in the Asylum and Selina was still avoiding him since he had made a misjudged attempt to dose her. He knew that he would hold the scars from that encounter until his dying day. But the thing that was annoying Jonathan the most was that his favourite partner to work with was free and would be happy to help him if he asked. But he was still too angry with him to even consider asking for his assistance. So he had been forced to commit this robbery alone.

Jervis had been kind enough to procure the banks vault codes for him in exchange for a promise of help on a future project and Jonathan had agreed easily. When he had a semblance of lucidity, Jervis was actually one of the few rogues Jonathan enjoyed knowing socially. Getting his toxin into the ventilation system wasn't difficult and it also ensured that the bank tellers would be too pre-occupied to hit any silent alarms. He had timed his entrance to perfection and it was a glorious sight to behold. Since it was almost at the end of the day the bank itself was almost deserted and there were only a few unfortunate late-comers who had been caught by the toxin along with the staff. Around two dozen wailing and screaming victims were spattered across the room, some were huddled against the various walls and the rest had just collapsed into a pile on the floor.

A satisfied smile made it's way onto Jonathans' face as he took in the sight. It wasn't very often he conducted an attack on such a diverse and numerous audience and he decided to take his time. Walking slowly through the bank he wove among the screaming victims, giving each a few moments of his time as he made a mental note of how they were responding to the fear toxin. So far he had come across nothing of particular interest, most seemed to have stereotypical fears which didn't excite him that much.

However, as he passed one of the men on the floor he was able to pick up him gibbering something about balloons and Jonathan paused at his side. "Globophobia. That's uncommon." Bending down, he stole the mans wallet from his rear pocket and took a quick note of his personal details in his own small pad which he kept inside his costume at all times. He returned the wallet and decided that he might make a private house call to this particular patient for further testing.

He was too engrossed in this victim to notice the woman who was inching her way towards the door. This teller had been inside the vault at the time of the attack and she had inadvertently avoided it fully. She was carefully trying to avoid the man who was currently examining one of her fallen colleagues when her foot caught on a loose wire and it pulled a telephone from one of the tables. The noise alerted Jonathan who stood up and whirled around at the source of the noise. Squeaking in pure fear the woman darted for the front entrance. She was less than a foot over the threshold when she felt something hard smash into the side of her temple and she instantly collapsed.

Jonathans' eyes widened in surprise as the woman fell back into the doorway as she slumped to the ground in an undignified manner, apparently unconscious as a small patch of blood began spreading under her head. He studied the body for a second longer before he heard the door open again as Edward Nygma strolled in as if he owned the place, twirling his freshly-bloody cane in one hand.

"You missed one!" He called out obnoxiously as he paused in the entranceway to use the ends of the womans' jacket to clean the blood off his cane. "Lucky Eddie was here to save the day, eh?" He preened.

"Edward!" Jonathan hissed. "What are you doing here?" He forcibly shoved down the slight pleasure he felt as seeing the other man as he reminded himself that he was not in the mood for any of Edwards' stupid plans in his current mood.

"Nothing much. Just thought I would pay a visit to my favourite doctor and see how he was doing." Edward replied. "Since he's not made the effort to come and see me since he escaped from the asylum." He muttered under his breath but deliberately loud enough for Jonathan to hear. "But that's okay, I'm sure you have a great excuse and I'm just dying to hear it over an expensive Italian dinner. Your treat." He bounced up the older man and went in for a quick kiss.

"Don't even think about it." Jonathan mumbled as he used his hand to push Edward away and continue his path towards the open vault. He was just starting to move the bundles of cash into the large bag he had carried with him when he felt Edwards' presence directly behind him. "What is it Edward?" He asked politely.

"Are you still angry with me? You're being totally unreasonable." He huffed. "But that's to be expected I suppose." Edward shrugged. "You're just failing to see how great that plan was supposed to be. How was I supposed to know we'd get caught?"

"Because of you, Edward, I was forced to spend over a month in the asylum for what should have been a simple experiment. You and your obsession with leaving clues ruined months of intricate planning. Not only that but in my absence, my favourite lair has now become overrun with vines which I am currently unable to remove." He answered bitterly.

Edward chuckled as he helped Jonathan to pack the money away. If there was one thing they shared it was a general disdain for all things flora. "What does my dear Pamela have against you now? Did you steal more of her prized petunias?"

Jonathan fought the smirk which threatened to break across his face. "Pamela may or may not have suspected that I was responsible for the removal of some extremely rare hallucinogenic plants from one of her greenhouses."

"Were you?"

"Of course I was. So I imagine that's why she's taken it upon herself to punish me for that perceived slight. So, to get back to my point, because of you Edward, I now have no lair and no money. If i'm totally honest you are actually lucky I don't have any spare toxin on me at the moment or you would be down with the other patients." He gestured to the multiple victims who were still writhing on the floor.

Edward gulped delicately as he glanced at the fallen bodies. He had been on the receiving end of Jonathans' toxin more times that he would have liked. The older man seemed to enjoy dosing him when he wasn't expecting it and Edward had a feeling that Jonathan may get off on it slightly however as their unconventional relationship had grown those instances had become more and more rare. But still, once in a while and usually during an argument, he would feel the sting of a needle or a choking sensation before he was confronted with hellish visions of his bastard father for a few hours. He had a sneaking suspicion that Jon used a lessor dose on him than his other victims but he knew better than to ask since Jon would give him an extra strong dose just to prove him wrong.

It wasn't exactly an ideal relationship. Between Jon gassing him and him knocking Jon out on a regular basis with his cane they were a destructive pair. Did they love each other? No. It wasn't love and frankly both men didn't think that they were capable of such a thing. But there was an affection, a real and genuine affection which prevented them from doing any real damage to the other. If Edward had to put a start date on the relationship, it would have been over a year ago when the pair had been forced to live together in a tiny room for a week to avoid the Batman who was hunting them after a series of successful heists. By the end of that week they had tried to kill each twice and slept together once. Not exactly a romantic start but Edward could work with it.

"But why would you want to dose me when I came here with a gift for you?" Edward spoke sweetly as he attempted to avoid a night of chemically-induced terror.

"Hmm?" Jonathan replied as he looked up interestedly. The last time Edward had given him a gift it was a special delivery of a certain synthetic chemical which was only produced in one specific area of the world. He may be obnoxious and irritating but the man knew how to give good gifts. "And what would that be?"

"Well. Since I had a sneaky suspicion that Pamela might try to pull a stunt while you were...away, I actually took all the items from your lair and had them moved to my much more comfortable digs." Edward smiled, pleased with himself. "And since I felt like some responsibility for your incarceration could be blamed on me I also had an associate of ours set you up a brand new lab in my basement so you could continue to play scientist while also getting to enjoy my company." He leered before puffing up proudly as his own genius and waited for Jonathan to respond.

"Apology accepted Edward." Jonathan replied as he threw the heavy bag onto his own back.

Edward deflated instantly. "I DID NOT APOLOGISE!" He yelled defensively as he grabbed his own money-filled bag and moved towards the exit. "Don't put words into my mouth, Jonathan." He whispered dangerously as he sulked.

Jonathan sensed a perfect opportunity to not only wind Edward up but to also win the argument against him. He moved closer to the younger man. "Oh Edward. Try not to be so negative." He used his free hand to pull Edwards' chin up before giving him a quick, harsh kiss. Edward responded instantly and pressed himself up against his partner. Jonathan allowed himself to enjoy the warmth for a second before he let go and moved away. "Now let's go see our new home."

Edwards stood dazed for a second before a wicked smirk appeared on his face. "Cheater!" He threw loudly at the retreating figure before hurrying to follow before any passers-by happened upon the scene.