This night's patrol was unusual. Batman was no stranger to criminals being frightened of him, but there were always some who opted to fight him. But tonight they all ran, no matter how well armed or how many they were. He was used to them visibly paling or getting twitchy, but this was something else entirely. And the screams when he took them down chilled him to the bone. He hated not knowing what was going on.

The atmosphere in the Iceberg Lounge was unusual that night. Riddler was used to seeing some poor henchmen and ruffians leaving Scarecrow's table with a look of absent terror on their faces. What was unusual was that through the night, Scarecrow never had an audience of less than a dozen people. He was getting very curious.

The night had gone on in the same way. Batman was starting to get annoyed. None of the criminals would tell him what the matter was, none of them even met his gaze. The sympathetic, slightly more friendly approach didn't help either. It made them even more afraid. The Mad Hatter had at first been a welcome respite, but when he had been subdued and Batman pulled him to his feet he looked nervous. And when Batman grabbed his hands to handcuff him he started shaking. Getting such a response from a man who was rarely in the real world was unnerving. And just like all the others, Mad Hatter just got more frightened when Batman put a sympathetic hand on his shoulder and asked as gently as he could what the matter was.

As the night wore on and Scarecrow no longer had an audience, Riddler made his way over to him. He laughed out loud when Scarecrow told him the story. But when he came home he started to think about it. Of course it was just Jonathan trying to unnerve them with a silly rumor, but the concept was genuinely creepy.

Batman was perplexed and more than a little annoyed as he silently entered the Riddler's hideout. Despite a wildly successful night of crime-fighting he wasn't happy. Something was very wrong and he wanted to know what. Creeping further into the house he could hear the shower running. This would be unpleasant.

Riddler chuckled softly as he rubbed shampoo into his scalp. Jonathan had a very active imagination, you had to give him that. The next meeting with the caped crusader would probably be very awkward. He was sure he'd never get the thought out of his head. Heh. Batman-Sexual predator. At that exact moment the curtains were ripped from the shower and he found himself giving out a not-so manly yelp at the sight of the vigilante.

"You're coming with me!", was the last thing he heard as he fainted and slumped to the floor.