The morning sun cast long shadows across the Gothic architecture of Gotham University as Lelouch, Mikasa, and Barbara Gordon climbed the steps to the Psychology Department.
The weekend seminar for gifted students had drawn participants from across Gotham's elite academic institutions, and all three had earned their places through exceptional academic performance.
"I still can't believe you convinced me to spend my Saturday at a psychology seminar," Barbara said, adjusting her glasses as they entered the imposing building. Her red hair caught the sunlight as she turned to Lelouch with a skeptical smile.
"Consider it an exploration of the human mind," Lelouch replied smoothly. "Besides, you were the one who mentioned wanting to understand criminal psychology better."
Barbara shrugged. "Fair point. My dad deals with Gotham's criminals every day. Understanding what makes them tick might be useful."
Mikasa walked slightly behind them, her eyes constantly scanning their surroundings. Old habits die hard, even when everything seems safe.
"Your father is the police commissioner, correct?" Lelouch asked, though he already knew the answer. He had made it a point to understand the connections and influences of everyone in their social circle.
"Going on five years now," Barbara confirmed. "Though sometimes I think he brings half the department's stress home with him."
They entered the main lecture hall, where several dozen students were already finding seats. The room was impressive – tiered seating facing a podium and projection screen, with high ceilings and large windows that allowed natural light to fill the space.
"The program mentions Dr. Elliot Kane as the keynote speaker," Barbara said, consulting her pamphlet. "He's supposedly brilliant on fear responses in high-stress environments."
Lelouch nodded. "His work on cognitive responses to trauma is groundbreaking, if somewhat controversial."
As they took their seats in the middle row, Mikasa noticed several staff members moving around the perimeter of the room. Something about their movements seemed off – too mechanical, too coordinated. Her combat-trained eyes narrowed slightly.
"Those staff members," she said quietly to Lelouch. "Something's wrong."
Lelouch followed her gaze, his mind immediately processing the behavioral anomalies. "You're right. Their movements lack natural variation."
Barbara looked between them, confused by their sudden tension. "What are you two talking about?"
Before either could respond, a tall, thin man in a tweed jacket approached the podium. "Welcome, students of Gotham University and Gotham Academy. I am Dr. Elliot Kane, and today we'll be exploring the fascinating landscape of the human mind under duress."
Something in his voice – a subtle cadence, an unusual emphasis – caught Lelouch's attention. He activated his Geass briefly, using its perceptive abilities to look beyond the physical.
What he saw made his blood run cold.
The man at the podium was surrounded by a haze of chemical compounds – invisible to normal perception but clear to Lelouch's enhanced senses.
More concerning was the thin mist beginning to seep from the air vents around the room.
"We need to leave," Lelouch whispered urgently. "Now."
"What? Why?" Barbara asked, but Mikasa was already on her feet, trusting Lelouch's assessment without question.
"Fire alarm," Lelouch said, pointing to the red box on the wall near the exit. "We need to-"
His words were cut short as the doors to the lecture hall slammed shut with an ominous thud. The man at the podium smiled, and his voice changed, dropping its academic pretense for something darker, more sinister.
"Today's lesson," he announced, removing his glasses to reveal intense, manic eyes, "is about fear. Your fear, specifically."
The tweed jacket came off, revealing a tattered, patchwork costume beneath. Several students gasped in recognition.
"For those who haven't been paying attention to Gotham's extracurricular activities," the man continued, "I am Professor Jonathan Crane. But you may call me Scarecrow."
Panic rippled through the room as students realized they were trapped with one of Batman's most notorious villains.
"The ventilation system," Lelouch whispered to Mikasa and Barbara. "He's releasing his fear toxin."
Barbara's eyes widened. "My father has files on him. His toxin causes hallucinations – makes you see your worst fears."
The mist from the vents was becoming visible now, a thin haze settling over the increasingly panicked crowd. The staff members Mikasa had noticed earlier revealed themselves as Scarecrow's henchmen, wearing simple gas masks and blocking the exits.
"I've been developing a new formula," Crane announced, his voice taking on the quality of a deranged lecturer.
"One specifically designed for young, brilliant minds like yours. Ordinary people fear simple things – death, pain, loss. But you gifted few? Your fears are so much more... complex."
Lelouch's mind raced, calculating options. The room was sealed, the air already contaminated.
Even as he thought, he could feel the first effects of the toxin – a creeping anxiety, shadows at the corners of his vision beginning to take familiar, haunting shapes.
Mikasa stood protectively near both Lelouch and Barbara, her body tense and ready. "Cover your mouths and noses," she instructed, pulling her red scarf up over her face.
Barbara and Lelouch followed suit with their clothing, but all three knew it was a temporary measure at best.
"Fascinating reactions already," Crane observed, watching the students with clinical detachment as they began to show signs of fear.
Some were backing into corners, others frozen in their seats with widened eyes. "The initial dose is mild – just enough to make you suggestible. The main event comes next."
Lelouch felt his heart rate increasing, his breathing becoming shallow. Images flickered at the edges of his consciousness – Nunnally crying out for him, the mask of Zero cracking to reveal his true face, Euphemia covered in blood.
"We need to find a way out," he managed, his voice strained. "Or at least disrupt the ventilation system."
Barbara, her face pale but determined, nodded. "The control panel for the lecture hall systems should be behind the podium. But we'd have to get past him."
Mikasa's gaze was steady despite the toxin beginning to affect her. "I can do that."
"No," Lelouch said firmly. "We stay together. There has to be another-"
A scream cut through the room as one student collapsed, clawing at invisible horrors. Others were beginning to follow, the toxin taking stronger hold.
Crane approached a trembling girl in the front row. "Tell me," he said gently, almost kindly, "what do you see?"
"Spiders," she whispered, her eyes fixed on something no one else could see. "Everywhere. Crawling inside my skin."
"Wonderful," Crane murmured, taking notes. "And you?" He turned to a boy nearby, who was backing away from empty air.
"The ground... it's opening up. I'm falling. I can't stop falling."
Barbara grabbed Lelouch's arm, her grip tight. "We need to do something now."
Lelouch tried to focus, but the toxin was making it increasingly difficult. The shadows were taking more distinct forms now – his father's contemptuous face, Suzaku's betrayal, the collective unconscious he had once confronted in C's World.
Mikasa was faring better, her Ackerman physiology providing some resistance, but even she was beginning to see flashes – titans reaching for her, Eren's decapitated head in her hands, her new family lying dead at her feet.
"I can't... I need to..." she muttered, her protective instincts warring with the hallucinations.
Barbara seemed to be fighting her own demons, her eyes darting to corners of the room where nothing existed. "Dad... I'm sorry..." she whispered.
Crane was making his way through the room, observing and documenting reactions with the detached interest of a scientist. "You're all experiencing personalized fear responses," he explained.
"Your brilliant minds creating the perfect terrors, far more effective than anything I could design specifically. You're doing the work for me."
Lelouch forced himself to focus, pushing back against the visions. He had faced his fears before, had died confronting them. This was just a chemical, a manipulation of brain chemistry. It wasn't real.
"Mikasa," he said, his voice stronger than he felt. "We need to create a distraction. Barbara, if we can get you to that control panel..."
Barbara nodded, struggling to maintain her composure. "I can... I think I can override the ventilation. Reverse the airflow."
Before they could implement any plan, Crane approached their row, his eyes fixing on Lelouch with disturbing intensity.
"Fascinating," he said. "You're resisting better than most. What do you see, young man? What terrifies someone with such self-control?"
Lelouch met his gaze steadily, refusing to give him the satisfaction of an answer. But Crane seemed to read something in his expression nonetheless.
"Ah," he said softly. "Not death, I think. Something worse. Failure, perhaps? Or is it success that truly frightens you? The consequences of getting exactly what you want?"
The words hit too close to home, and Lelouch felt his control slipping. The visions intensified – Zero's mask shattering, revealing his face to the world.
Nunnally looking at him with horror and betrayal. The moment of his death, the sword piercing his chest, his plan complete but at the cost of everything.
Mikasa moved with sudden speed, placing herself between Crane and Lelouch. Despite the toxin's effects, her movements remained precise, controlled – the muscle memory of a warrior.
"Stay away from him," she warned, her voice low and dangerous.
Crane's eyes lit up with academic interest. "Even more fascinating. The protective instinct overriding the fear response. Tell me, what do you see that makes you so desperate to protect him?"
Mikasa didn't answer, but her hands trembled slightly – the only outward sign of the battle raging within her mind.
Barbara, meanwhile, had edged closer to the wall, moving toward the podium while Crane was distracted. Her training with her father had taught her to move quietly, to use distractions to her advantage.
"You won't succeed," Lelouch said, "Batman will stop you. He always does." Trying to get the focus back on him by taunting him with the one who always defeats him.
Crane laughed, a hollow sound without humor. "Batman isn't here. And by the time he realizes what's happening, I'll have all the data I need from my perfect test subjects."
As if on cue, the remaining students who had been resisting collapsed into their own personal nightmares, leaving only Lelouch, Mikasa, and Barbara still functioning, if barely.
"You three are exceptional," Crane observed. "The toxin should have completely overwhelmed you by now. I'll have to increase the dosage."
He reached for a control in his pocket, but before he could activate it, the building shook with a sudden, violent tremor.
The tremor was followed by another, stronger one that caused dust to fall from the ceiling. The henchmen looked around in confusion, their attention momentarily diverted from the students.
"What is that?" one of them asked nervously.
Crane frowned. "Gotham isn't on a fault line. This isn't-"
The third tremor was more like an explosion, and it was accompanied by a sound like thunder.
The windows of the lecture hall shattered inward, and a rush of fresh air momentarily cleared some of the toxin-laden haze.
And then he was there.
Goku stood in the center of the room, having appeared out of nowhere. His normally kind eyes were hard, his expression set in a cold fury that transformed his entire demeanor. The air around him seemed to distort, shimmering with barely contained energy.
"Lelouch. Mikasa." His voice was calm, but there was an undercurrent of rage that made even Crane take a step back. "Are you alright?"
Despite the toxin still affecting them, both teenagers felt a wave of relief at his presence.
"G-Goku," Lelouch managed. "The air... fear toxin..."
Goku's eyes narrowed as he took in the situation – the students collapsed in terror, Crane's equipment, the haze still lingering in the air. He didn't speak, but his body language changed subtly, becoming even more dangerous.
With a gesture so fast it was nearly invisible, Goku created a swirling vortex of energy that began to pull the contaminated air toward him.
The haze condensed into a sphere between his palms, which he then compressed until it vanished entirely.
Barbara stared in open-mouthed shock. "Who... who is he?" she whispered to Lelouch.
Crane was backing away now, genuine fear replacing his clinical detachment. "This isn't possible," he muttered. "No normal meta-human can-"
He didn't finish the sentence. Goku moved, and suddenly he was directly in front of Crane, lifting the villain by his collar with one hand.
"You targeted my family," Goku said, his voice still terrifyingly calm. "You made them see their worst fears."
The building shook again, but this time it was clearly emanating from Goku himself. The floor beneath his feet cracked, and the tremors radiated outward.
Unknown to those present, these tremors were being felt across the entire Eastern Seaboard, registered as a 5.2 magnitude earthquake centered on Gotham.
"I should-" Goku stopped himself, visibly struggling to contain his anger. For a brief moment, his hair seemed to shimmer with a gold light, his eyes for a moment firey emerald, but he soon closed them and took a deep breath, forcing the transformation away.
He needed to keep in control - he wasn't used to people in his life being in danger.
Unlike his memories of being Samael and Zamasu, his memories of Goku were far more distant in the emotional sense - only the battle experience was etched into him with great familiarity because of his very own body.
When he opened his eyes again, they were still hard but more controlled. "You will tell me where the antidote is. Now."
Crane, dangling from Goku's grip, nodded frantically. "My lab. Beneath the building. Northwest corner, behind the bookcase in office 237. There's a hidden elevator."
Goku looked to Lelouch and Mikasa. "Can you stand?"
Both nodded, fighting through the toxin's effects. Barbara was leaning against a desk for support but managed to straighten up.
"We need to help the others," she said, her voice shaky but determined.
Goku nodded. "Stay together. I'll get the antidote."
He handed Crane to Mikasa, who secured the villain's arms behind his back with practiced efficiency despite her trembling hands.
"Watch him," Goku instructed. Then he simply vanished.
Barbara blinked in disbelief. "Did he just... teleport?"
"He's... unique," Lelouch said carefully, still fighting the visions at the edges of his consciousness.
Less than thirty seconds later, Goku reappeared, holding a case of vials. "I found these. And neutralized his henchmen in the lab."
He quickly administered the antidote to Lelouch, Mikasa, and Barbara, then moved through the room with impossible speed, treating each affected student.
Within minutes, the hallucinations began to fade, leaving confusion and relief in their wake.
As the students began to recover, the sound of sirens filled the air outside. Barbara looked toward the windows.
"That'll be GCPD. My father must have been alerted."
Goku nodded. "Good. They can take care of Crane and his people." He turned to Lelouch and Mikasa. "We should go."
Barbara looked between them, her sharp mind already connecting dots. "Wait. You're just leaving? After what just happened? After what he just did?" She gestured at Goku with a mixture of awe and confusion.
Lelouch met her gaze steadily. "What happened here needs to stay here, Barbara. For everyone's safety."
"But he-" she began.
"Saved our lives," Mikasa finished firmly. "And would prefer to avoid questions."
Barbara studied them for a long moment, then nodded slowly. "I understand. But we're going to talk about this later."
Goku placed a hand on Lelouch's shoulder and another on Mikasa's. "Ready?"
They nodded, and Barbara watched in amazement as all three simply disappeared from the room, leaving her with the recovering students and a securely restrained Scarecrow.
Outside, Commissioner Gordon was already coordinating the police response when Barbara emerged from the building. He rushed to her, relief evident on his face.
"Barbara! Are you alright? We got reports of a hostage situation and then these tremors-"
"I'm fine, Dad," she assured him. "Scarecrow's inside, restrained. The students are recovering from his fear toxin, but someone... intervened."
Gordon's eyes narrowed. "Batman?"
Barbara hesitated, then shook her head. "No. Someone else. Someone... incredible."
Miles away, in a remote clearing outside Gotham, Goku, Lelouch, and Mikasa reappeared. Mark was waiting, his expression a mixture of concern and relief.
"You guys okay? I felt the earthquake all the way out here."
Goku looked somewhat embarrassed. "I may have... overreacted. When I sensed your fear." He turned to Lelouch and Mikasa. "I'm sorry I wasn't there sooner. I was teaching Mark control exercises and wasn't paying attention as I should have."
"You came when it mattered," Lelouch said. The antidote had cleared his system, but the memory of those visions – so similar to his actual past – lingered uncomfortably.
"Are you truly alright?" Goku asked, his eyes searching both teenagers' faces.
Mikasa nodded. "The toxin is gone. But..." She hesitated. "It made us see things. Our worst fears."
"Our pasts," Lelouch added quietly.
Goku's expression softened with understanding. "The past can haunt us. But it doesn't define our future."
"That girl, Barbara," Mikasa said. "She saw what you did."
Goku nodded. "Commissioner Gordon's daughter. She seems trustworthy, but we'll need to be more careful now."
"She'll have questions," Lelouch pointed out.
"And we'll answer some of them," Goku replied. "Not everything, but enough." Of course nothing about their pasts. It is simply better to bestow a dose of satisfactory truth then have someone be an annoyance that continues digging.
Mark looked between them, frustration evident on his face. "I should have been there. If I had my powers under better control-"
"Then you might have been affected by the fear toxin too," Goku interrupted gently. "Everything happened as it needed to."
The four of them stood in silence for a moment, each processing the day's events in their own way.
"Let's go home," Lelouch suddenly stated, his voice quiet, though not in a tone of defeat, but rather cold rage and realisation.
Goku looked at the boy then at Mikasa and Mark who themselves were also quiet and nodded.
Without another word he envolped them in his Ki and put two fingers on his forehead and instant transmissioned away.
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(Author note: Hello everyone! I hope you all liked the chapter.
Yeah, Gotham has its dangers. I couldn't just have it be that no danger ever happens, especially since these guys have shitty luck.
So, do tell me how you found it and I hope to see you all later,
Bye!)