Chapter 2 - Mr. E
The sun didn't rise in Gotham City that morning, or if it did, the smog blocked it out. It only happened a couple of times a year when the pollution was particularly thick in the cities air.
Most people stayed indoors, watching television, listening to their radio's, sleeping.
However, one place not in darkness was Arkham Asylum, Gotham's high security prison, home to hundreds of the cities most wanted and plenty enemies of the Batman.
The lights were bright in the long corridors. They hurt your eyes if you weren't used to the blare, after all, with Gotham being such a dark city most people aren't used to that kind of light.
Mister E. Nygma was kept in corridor seven. Room number 46. Everyday the nurse on duty would bring him three meals, breakfast, lunch and dinner, and pills in the morning and at night. He slept most of the day, trying hard to stay awake at night. Most nights he stayed awake only to see the lights of Gotham City, the huge floodlight that filled the sky with his enemies trademark, the Batman.
Nygma was awake. Similar to every day, the nurse came to his door. He stared at the door as he listened to every click and every bang as she unlocked each lock one by one. By now he was used to the squeak of the door, he had stopped asking the guards to oil it months ago.
The nurse carried a tiny white cup containing three brightly coloured pills.
"Good morning Mr. E"
He insisted that he females of the prison call him that, no Edward, no Mr. N, and certainly no Mr. Nygma. Mister E went just nicely with his character.
"Good morning Mr. E" He childishly answered back in his mocking tone of voice.
"Time to take your pills, your not going to be fussy for me are you?" She intrigued him with the little cup, squeezing her breasts together as though trying to entrance him. It didn't work however. He rose from his plain bed to his feet. Standing in front of he he spoke.
"How many times do I need to tell you ladies? Eh? I don't want your ludicrous, and I most certainly don't want your breasts.!"
He turned away from her and mumbled under his breath.
"I'd much rather have Angela's!" He smirked. She look back at him with a slightly red face, she was clearly angry. Mr. E was usually nice in the mornings, it was at night time you had to be careful around him.
He stood staring out the window as a flock of seagulls past. He hadn't breathed the fresh air in months, hadn't even seen the sun, apart from through the glass and bars, hadn't heard the sea crash against the waves. So many things he took for granted gone, in the blink of an eye, or the flap of a wing...
"I'll tell you what..." He spoke to the nurse, still staring out the window.
"How about a little riddle?" He asked her politely, although he had a mischievous look on his face now.
"Now Mr. E, you know the rules, you wouldn't want to make us girls mad at you again." She prompted him flirtatiously flicking back her hair and cupping her breasts. He didn't batter an eyelid at her.
He continued with his riddle, ready to confuse the poor blonde girl with his intelligence.
"It is weightless, but you can see it. If you put it in a box, then the box becomes lighter. What am I?"
When he finished he clicked his fingers. The snap of the click echoed into the young girls ears and instantly she knew something bad was about to happen.
At that several holes appeared around Edward's feet making a circle of tiny holes, weak in the floor. Dust arose and surrounded him, twirling and twisting around his body, twining through his limbs and above his head.
"Your entrance was good my lady, but I must say, my exit was far better. Wouldn't you agree?"
The floor fell under his feet taking him with it. He didn't move a muscle as he disappeared into the blackness of the hole below.
The nurse moved over to the edge, peering down into what can only be described as cold darkness. She saw nothing, no light, no movement, no sign that anyone was ever there.
The cup of pills fell to the floor as she made her exit into the hallway. Her feet would have taken her faster if it wasn't for the high heels she had on, totally impractical for work.
The red button, I've got to hit that red button. She thought as her fingers neared the tiny box on the wall with the red letters above reading "Emergency". Her fingers penetrated the glass and the alarms sounded, sending hundreds of armed guards around the perimeter of the prison in minutes.
Mr. E hardly had a chance...
