"Please don't call me that" begged Emily while rolling her eyes at Cash.
"Why not? It's been your nickname for years!"
Her first sleep in Arkham had been restless, with so much noise going on outside she plugged in a old style vacuum cleaner to drain out other sounds, she had concentrated on the soothing hum of the vacuum and it eventually helped her sleep. In the morning the outdated cleaner was still going and she felt oddly proud of it and decided from then on she'd call it Henrietta. Her new routine in the morning was firstly to take a shower to rid of the dusty and sooty smell of the city off her skin, it was a long process since the hot water was going on and off every few minutes. Breakfast wasn't good as nothing had been delivered to her apartment yet so she had to settle on a glass of water but she was sure that Cash would have supplies.
When she got close to the Church she could see Cash was standing outside with his arms crossed waiting for her and when she finally arrived at nine o'clock he relaxed then welcomed her with a tight hug. All of the team were inside so she was introduced to the ones that weren't there the other night and was given toast with jam and a coffee and it was extremely satisfying.
"I know but I've out grown it, I'm not a kid any more. Please, just call me Emily."
"No promises, Filly" he winked.
Emily had wanted to go out with the groups around the City but Aaron wasn't keen on the idea as he threatened to handcuff her to his own wrist if he she ever asked again.
"I want to help Cash, I'm not much use in here. I'm rubbish when it comes to applying plasters and bandages and...and putting pills into the right containers."
He gave her an annoyed look, "I am fed up of giving you the same answer over and over again," he sighed, "I know that you can put up a fight and protect yourself, I witnessed it all back on the island but this is different now, it's a whole lot bigger than before."
"I understand that Cash but..." he gave her another look and so she dropped the subject but she would keep bringing it up until he changed his mind. But she knew he that was right, everything was bigger but after her experience in Arkham asylum, she had spent all her time and money at the gym, out jogging and occasionally practised parkour as if she was ever back in the Batman universe she wanted to be more prepared.
For the full day Emily spent her time with the Doctors trying to help whenever she could, and during a short break she got to know Eddie Burlow who promised to each her how to play card games.
"Do you mind if I leave now? I'm meant to be getting a food package delivered to me at some point this evening and I need to be there when they arrive." she lied.
Cash hesitated for a moment before saying yes but he insisted on walking her back to the apartment, "It's just around the corner Cash, I'll be fine I promise. Look, why don't you give me a walkie talkie and I'll let you know I'm fine and in one piece when I get home."
"You know what Filly, that's not a bad idea." Armed with a walkie talkie she left the church quickly before Cash could change his mind or say anything. Once back in her apartment Emily took a shower then chose a new outfit to wear, she was going to pay someone a visit and decided she'd have to look her best. At nine o'clock Emily went around the side of the building and climbed the steps that lead up to the roof. It didn't take her long to reach the top but it wasn't too high up so there was no full view of the city.
But the building across from her had a roof then a platform that she could use to get higher but her eyes glanced at the ground below which seemed very far away.
The gaps didn't look as big as they did in the games...
Swallowing the lump in her throat she too twelve steps backwards and readied herself for the jump. In the real world the gaps between the buildings she jumped weren't as wide as these were but in Arkham City she wasn't a normal a person, she could do this...she hoped. Like a hair tie being stretched to the limit then let go, Emily propelled herself forward, forced herself to get as much speed and strength as possible and then she got to the edge.
Her eyes began to water at the air battled against her but it wasn't long until her feet landed on the roof but instead of stopping like she planned, her feet kept going and soon she had jumped on to the platform and on to the next building. Getting closer to the docks Emily, out of breath slumped onto a new roof and rested for a few moments. Deciding to continue her journey on foot, she climbed down the building and tried to recognise where she had ended up. Luckily she spotted a sign that lead her to the Sionis Mill, her only problem now was getting there without catching the attention of the henchmen.
Emily would have marked herself three out of ten for her landing, if an inmate and witnessed her clash with the ground she was pretty sure they'd compare her to a pigeon having a heart attack from a great height then splatting on the concrete. Rubbing her now sore thigh a couple of times she decided that she'd have to find a way to get some sort of armour. The armour that Cash wore looked pretty good but it would it difficult for her to move around quickly. A image suddenly popped into her and she smiled in delight at what she remembered from her Arkham brain palace.
Otis Flannegan a.k.a The Ratcatcher was in the city. Well she hoped he still was. Otis was once an actual rat catcher, he had a strange, natural gift that would grant him power and control over the vermin he caught. He tried to threaten Gotham with a plague of rats years ago but like every threat to Gotham the Batman was there to stop him. Filly figured that nowadays he was just a scared, skinny man like the creatures he controlled, scurried about in the darkness trying to keep out of trouble.
But he wasn't going to last long in this city' collecting bits and pieces for the inmates kept him alive and 'safe' and it annoyed the Penguin that a small time criminal like Otis was getting the business that he had 'expertise' in. Cobblepot would send his goons to collect him and then Penguin would kill him. She hoped that he was still alive in Arkham City, if he was she believed that she'd be able to give him some sort of protection, and in exchange all he had to do was use his rats to get the things she needed to survive in the prison.
"Look at what we got here, some fresh meat boys."
Three of the men snapped their heads in her direction, "I haven't seen a woman in months!"
Emily stopped herself rolling her eyes at the typical, sleazy inmates. Standing strong she took a few confident steps towards them. "I'm here to see the Joker, so either take me to him or step aside." She out her hands on her hips like Wonder Woman did, she was sure she read somewhere if you did that people didn't try to mess you around and knew you meant business.
The group began to approach her, her words going through one ear then out the other. Emily didn't want this as her first fist fight in the City, Hell it had been months since she had to defend herself, but she stood strong then began warn them to back off to which they only laughed at. When they were only four paces away Emily raised her fists until someone shouted behind the men.
"Stop," an inmate wearing a large black jumper over his orange jumpsuit approached them, "If you put one finger on that girl the Joker will have a few words with you, then he'll probably kill you and feed you to his hyenas. Come along girlie, he's waiting for yah."
Without another word she rushed past the rude henchmen and reached the other inmates side. She almost whispered a thank you until she properly took in his face and appearance.
"You were the one who brought me the flowers yes?" he didn't say a word but only nodded his head in reply, "I'm Emily Rogers." she gave her best smile and held out her hand. He looked at it as if he wasn't sure what he was supposed to do.
"Just call me Club all right, and don't fall behind, if you get lost then get killed the Boss will blame me."
Saying nothing else she walked by his side and stayed silent. He took her inside the main area and Emily had to stop her excitement from seeing the real thing in front of her, she even spied the vent lid that Batman popped out of to take down the Joker thugs. Both of them walked up the staircase and at the top they met at a short corridor and at the end was a door with 'BOSS' in green sprayed over it.
"Just knock three times and enter." Club patted her shoulder and acted as if he had just delivered her to her executioner. Emily stood still for a minute and tried to calm her nerves, the last time she had seen him was on top of Arkham Asylum and be was beaten by Batman. Breathing in and out calmly she approached the door and followed the instructions she was given.
The door handle was stiff and it took two pushed down until it opened. The office was huge and dimly lit, the large ceiling lights flickered and buzzed due to flies trapped inside. Placing her hands inside her trouser pockets Emily cautiously walked further in and gazed in the familiar sites like Harley's nurse outfit from the asylum, the huge Harley intercom that you'd have to destroy in the game, a big mirror with lights around it like one you'd find in a actors dressing room and a pile of green, unopened boxes.
Emily reached out, picked one up and examined it closely and tried to keep weird images from her head. Emily wondered how Harley managed to get all of these tests, maybe there were still stores out there that hadn't all been ransacked.
There was a shuffling behind her, her head snapped around and she saw a armchair and an outline of a body. "Mr Joker?" Dropping the box she called his name again and got no response. With slow steps Emily stood in front of him expecting him to give her a small jump scare but for a few long moments he was still.
Frowning, Emily decided to shake his shoulder, "Hey, are you in there?" She shook him roughly and his head tumbled off and rolled on to the floor. Emily held in a terrified squeak and cursed quietly at herself for the cheap spook.
"Sorry, I don't fall for the dead Joker gag any more." she called out into the grimy darkness. There was suddenly a fit of coughing with giggles in between them, from the darkest corner the clown prince of crime stepped into the dim, dramatic lighting, it looked as if he had rehearsed his unveil a few times before she had arrived.
"Now now don't lie my dear, I saw you flinch." he gave his signature grin which looked tired then moved towards the armchair and threw the body off it and she noticed that he struggled for a moment and he tried to cover it up. He pulled the chair more into the light then slumped down into it and looked at Emily happily, "Now where are my manners?!" he shouted gleefully, bouncing out the chair he grabbed Emily's arms and pulled her into a tight hug.
"Thank you for the flowers" she replied awkwardly her head pushed into his chest.
The Joker pulled away from her but kept his hands on her shoulders, "I must admit, I thought I'd see you sooner."
"Yeah well Cash has been trying to put a tight leash on me. It's difficult to get away", there was a small pause because Emily spoke again,"So you don't hate me?"
He gave a low, sad sounding chuckle, "You're forgiven my sweet. I could never stay mad at you!" he falls back into the chair and Emily takes her time taking in his appearance.
The poison hadn't ruined his face yet, however she could spot a few symptoms like slight hair loss, a yellow tinge in his eye that she knew would change to red and around his ears and mouth his skin was changing to a pink tint. But she kept quiet as he hadn't brought it up and there was no way she was going to push any of his buttons this early.
"Tell me, what has the Daughter of Arkham been up to, hmm?"
"Well apart from being thrown into here, I guess I've just been living a normal life. I dunno if you heard but I moved out of the asylum and got an apartment, I don't have any pets though, it would have been nice if I had a goldfish to brighten the place up or something."
"Sounds good" he said with a disinterested tone, "Do you have a boyfriend?" he asked raising a curious eyebrow.
"I'm not interested in boys Joker" she simply replied.
There was a small pause, "Girlfriend?"
Emily let out a laugh, "No, I don't have time for that sort of thing."
There conversations had stops and starts but the Joker had filled her in on how he came into the City but made no comment or hint about the TITAN sickness within him and she doubted that he'd want to discuss it with her.
"You want to know something funny? Before getting thrown in here, I think I almost had a normal life."
"Is that really what you wanted my dear?"
Emily thought about it for a moment, "No, I guess not. Normal didn't look good on me" she smiled.
The clown grinned in approval, "Before I let you go my sweet there is something that I do wish to chat about. I can't protect you here, when you grew up in the asylum I could make sure no one laid a finger on you but in here you're on your own."
The young woman felt flattered that the most evil man in the Batman Universe felt concerned for her. "I know what I'm dealing with inside the prison Joker, I'm not saying I won't have a few trips and falls but I'll be OK."
He gave her a long stare which seemed to say that he knew a lot more than she did but he didn't comment. "Well, I can't wait to see you grow into, what did you name yourself? Shadowmare was it?"
Her full face blushed a deep red as she remembered the 'superhero' name she had given herself back in the asylum. "I forgot about that, maybe I'll go back to the drawing board with it."
"No no no no no! I told you that the name was perfect for you! Don't change it your warned you hear!" he laughed at the end. The Joker stood from his chair and gave Filly a goodbye hug and showed her to the door and told her to come back in two days.
Walking down the stair caseClub appeared from around the corner and escorted her out of the Mill and back to the now empty docks, "Here," he handed her a clown mask, "If you ever come back here wear this so you don't catch any unwanted attention. You can probably handle yourself fine in a fight but I won't always be around to back you up if it goes tits up."
"Thanks...do you think Shadowmare sounds intimidating?"
"Um, sure I guess. So why does the Joker like you so much?" he asked changing the subject.
"Oh I grew up in Arkham Asylum and he became my foster uncle so to speak."
Club nodded his head at her straight answer. "Grew up in a asylum. You're crazy then?"
She rolled her eyes, "No I'm not crazy, I just happened to have special powers. And no more questions please," she cut off the nosy inmate, "I really need to get back."
"All right, see you around crazy girl. Oh and welcome to the City."