Takes place after Asylum but just before the events in City. Don't expect facts to be dead on, although I did do a fair bit of research.

Farewell To The Fairground

Chapter Three:

Work

Hate to be inconsiderate, but the industry took my innocence.

Work - Iggy Azalea

She doesn't feel bad, not even when she brushes against one of the dirtier walls, and grime gathers against the sleeve of Riddler's jacket. Hell, she hadn't felt bad when she'd sneaked out of the hideout in Riddler's absence (something about going to the Church), so why would she feel bad about a little bit of dirt?

His plan at the Church consists of waiting until Joker is done with his business (she didn't bother asking how he knew what Joker had planned) and then carrying on with capturing the hostages - prison medical staff, etcetera, etcetera.

It's brilliant, she has to admit. The plan - it's planned out well, each twist and turn leading Batman exactly where Riddler wants him. The codes, the hostages, the Riddler rooms, the trophies - they had all been thought out so perfectly that Cali is, admittedly, impressed.

'The Church,' he'd said, eyes glinting. Cali doesn't usually see the shadow of the man he used to be, but when he's pleased with someone he looks younger and less...stretched. 'It will be perfect - I have already set up everything that we will need to stay in contact with the Bat-'

'What do you want me to do?' Cali had asked quickly, dumping her shoes on the floor and slipping them on. She's learnt to always be ready when Riddler's plans kick into action. Better to be running down the street with a pair of shoes on than dirty socks.

But Riddler had looked at her, and that look alone had told her that she would not be joining him that night. 'You will stay here,' he had told her. Cali wondered how he had actually expected her to listen. This night - this one night - reminded her of that night at the Asylum...she had been forced to stay inside then, but not this time.

So, she'd waited until he had left and here she was. Traipsing across Arkham City with a knife in her back pocket and a hastily written letter for the person of whom she was visiting.

'Hey,' Cali whispers, sometime later as she stands within reach of the shadows, the Steel Mill glinting in the distance. The person of whom she'd addressed (a bulky guy with greasepaint smeared across his cheeks) turned, pipe in hand and a sneer on his face. 'I take it you're one of Joker's guys, yeah?'

He cocks his head back, considering her as she steps into the street light. 'Little Quinn, huh? You come to see your sister?' He lowers the pipe, knowing that she's one of the Untouchables. One of the Elite.

Edward's going to kill me.

Cali fishes the letter out of her pocket and hands it to him. 'Give this to her, I'll be waiting here'. The goon nods, crunching the letter into the centre of. He doesn't move, instead looks at her expectantly, waiting to be given some kind of reward. Cali's face crumbles into a look that she has seen on Riddler's face so often. 'Go'.

She slinks back against the wall, wondering idly if she would return to the hideout before Edward. That's what she aimed to do, but he seemed to catch her at every turn. It wasn't as if she was escaping, anyway. She just wanted to see Harley, to see what the down low was.

Still, she remembers the way he had ducked his head to bow next to hers before he had left. She had been sitting at the desk, staring at the screen. Still, she had felt his hand curl around her back of the chair and his breath on her cheek when he'd whispered, 'Stay here'.

Obviously, Cali hadn't listened. She never did - impulses and all that.

She heard Harley before she saw her - fast footsteps and little panting breaths. Her sister was noisy and eccentric in whatever she did, an act that never fell. Cali pushed herself away from the wall, nearly smiling when Harley collided with her, all waving, soft hair and clinging hands to her neck.

'Cal,' sighed the older woman, gripping at her younger sister. 'Ya came. I heard that ya were in the City, but I didn't think that Eddie woulda let you come and see me an' Mistah J'. Cali coughs, cocking a brow at Harley when she pulls away. 'OH. He didn't. Naughty girl, Cali'.

Cali smiled and looks at her sister. Face white, blue eyes surrounded by a circle of black, and a hand made outfit of leathers and buckles. 'You look...good, Harls'.

'Ya think? Aw, thanks, Cal'. Harley grins brightly. 'The goon gave me the letter. Don't have much time, it said. Ya know, ya could just stay here with me and J-'

Cali cut across her hastily. 'I don't think Joker would appreciate that, Harls. You know that'. Cali looked to the side, feeling oddly bashful at her next words. 'Anyway...I've got Edward, haven't I?'

Harley frowned. 'He keeps ya on house arrest - ya had to sneak out to come and see me. I'm ya sister, ya should be allowed to visit me!' Harley frowns, looking behind her quickly. 'Here, go in there, will ya, Cals? I don't like bein' out in the open like this - don't feel safe'.

Cali complies, pushing open a rotting door and stepping into a cold, wet room. She assumed it must have been a store of some sort once, but now the room consisted of broken shelves and rotting, smelly wood.

'I gotta tell ya somethin', Cal. Two things, actually. Good and bad, dependin' on how you look at it'. Cali turns away from the room and back to Harley, genuinely interested in what her sister had to say. If it was anything about Joker being ill...well, Edward had already figured that one out.

'Puddin'...he ain't well, Cal. He's real sick, so I'm gonna have to be getting back soon. I can't tell you what's up with him or what's happening, but he's got something planned for Batman and Strange, but he's real sick'. Harley, in a split second, seemed to realise what she was saying. 'But he'll be fine. My Puddin' is always fine. He'll get better, Cal. I'm just...worried, is all'.

'Harley-'

Harley shook her head, eyes suddenly brimming with tears. 'I think- I think I'm pregnant, Cal'. Cali, in her normally stoic form, blanched. No. 'I took some tests - a lot, actually - and one came out positive. I took them cause I'm real late and I was so sure it must be- it was positive and Mistah J's sick-'

Cali is moving forward suddenly, hands holding the taller sisters shoulders. 'Harley, you can't tell Joker. Not yet, okay? Not until he's...better. He's got a lot to think about right now, right? With whatever he's got planned for the Bat and what's happening with Strange - when you tell him, it'll be some good news after such hard work, right?'

Harley nods slowly, so child like in her mannerisms. 'Ya right,' she nods, sniffling. 'Ya always right, Cal. Always. I can see why someone like Eddie would want you around. You won't tell him, will ya? About...' she waves at her flat, exposed stomach. Before Cali can assure her that she will not, Harley's already wiping at her eyes and, oddly, not smudging the make up. 'I gotta go. J...he needs me'.

Cali nods, pulling her sister into a hug and patting her hair. 'I love you, Harls,' she tells her sister, like every time they see each other. It is a mantra, a reminder. Cali Quinn can love, she just chooses who.

'Love ya too, Cal,' Harley shoots back, stepping away. Before she leaves the decaying shop, she casts her eyes over her sisters form. 'Riddler's jacket looks cute and everything, but couldn't ya go for somethin' a little less manly, Cals?'

Cali stares blankly at the door, even minutes after Harley has left. She blinks and sighs. 'Nice seeing you too, Harleen'.

She meets only one threatening thug on her way back to the hideout, one of Two-Face's guys who corners her and makes Cali take off her jacket and drop it to the floor. Cali complies, but only because it made it easier for her to grab her knife and flash the green coat to the goon. 'Do you know who I am?' she asks him. When he realises, he grins even wider.

'Riddler's little whore, huh? I've heard you're a lot more prim and proper than your bowlegged sister - how d'you feel about changing that, hmm?' He's not half as foul as some of the goons in Arkham City, but Cali still cringes at his filthy hands as they dart out toward her.

He grabs her forearm, so in turn Cali stabs at the offending hand, earning a howl from the man and then a growl afterwards. She expects the punch, but she doesn't quite expect it to hurt so much. She can feel the blood spurt from her nose, and with one last slash at him (she catch him hard this time, and loses the knife somewhere in his side) she starts running.

She keeps running, holding her nose and intent upon getting back to the hideout before Riddler and avoiding any other run ins with other convicted rapists. Or Batman.

Cali slips past the Iceberg Lounge and down the steps until she reaches the electric fence, hands sorting to find the button that would turn off the electricity, if only for a few seconds. Her nose throbs, but she tries desperately not to leave traces of blood.

Maybe he's not back yet. Maybe he's taking longer than he thought he would. She'd passed the Church though. She'd seen the question marks littering the exterior of it and had hoped, in vain, that he was still inside those old walls.

Cali opens the door as quietly as she can, continuing along until she comes into the computer room. All of the monitors are on now, of course. The green glow harsher than before, illuminating the figure of Edward as he leans over the desk, palms pressed against the surface and head bowed. He looks troubled and tense, although not half as bad as when he had found Cali and that goon-

'Edward-' Her voice sounds stuffy and thick. He would have scoffed at her, had the situation been any different.

He turns suddenly, and Cali realises that he hadn't even known she was there. He's more angry than ever, half turned toward her and studying her half dressed form. Green eyes catch sight of the bloody nose and the hand that lingers there.

'I ran into someone. It's fine,' she assures him, wishing to heck that her nose would quit hurting. Better not be broken. 'Edward, I'm sorry I left-'

'I told you to stay,' he bites out, pushing himself away from the desk. 'What happened? What buffoon dared to hurt what is The Riddler's? Did he know who you were - did he touch you?'

She should feel flattered that he cares so much, but Edward is like a child: he doesn't like people touching what's his. That's all this is. A game of what's mine isn't yours.

He pushes her into a chair without much care, turning away to pull off his gloves and find something to clear away the blood with. 'He knew who I was,' Cali tells Riddler, leaning forward to allow the blood to pool into her palms. 'Ugh, gross - thanks'. Edward hands her a discarded pile of tissues - they're grubby, but they'll do. 'I think that egged him on, if anything. You're not exactly popular, Edward'.

He doesn't want to joke, apparently. Instead, green eyes stare from behind square rimmed glasses.

Cali sighs, blowing her bloody nose into the tissue and then ripping away some pieces to shove up her nostrils. Attractive, Cals. 'He really wanted to have a go on - what was it? Riddler's Whore? Apparently Little Quinn has lost its popularity as I've grown older-'

'This is hardly a joking matter. He would have raped you, had you not been equipped with that knife - I trust this is what you used to defend yourself? What if Penguin or Two Face had gotten to you and questioned you of my whereabouts? You have been at the mercy of others trying to find me before, Cali, you know what they would-'

'I didn't break then, and I wouldn't now!' She still has the scars on her back from the belt. She pushes herself back into the chair when he comes forward, standing in front of her and prodding at her aching nose. 'Ow-!'

'It is not broken. Count yourself lucky. I cannot have my plans relying on your ability to follow a small and simple order, you undeveloped ape-' he stops, running a bare hand over his mouth. Cali stares, finding it odd how she has barely seen him without the fingerless gloves. 'I'm busy. I'm working. While you were gallivanting around Arkham City, I acquired the hostages and gave them the separate coordinates. Now, we wait for the Bat-'

'I wasn't gallivanting, I was being assaulted. Anyway, I saw Harley'. Did she always know she was going to tell him, or was the news going to be a backup for when he caught her sneaking in? 'She's-'

Riddler sighed dramatically, green eyes scanning the screens in front of him pointedly. 'I care not about the well-being of your ridiculous sister. Joker, though, I do wish to know about - did she say anything of him?'

Cali squints at his back and stands, walking slowly to his side. Was that it? No punishment? 'Only that he's sick - she was reluctant to tell me anything. It's bad, though. So bad that he needs her to look after him 24/7, she didn't want to leave him for too long'.

'How heart-warming'. He stands next to her, two inches taller but wiry in his frame. 'And Cali? Expect a punishment before the night is out - and it will be a long night'.

Cali lets a ghost of a smile play on her face. 'I expected nothing less, Edward'.

Shorter chapter, but I'm really excited to write the next chapter!

Thank you for the reviews everyone. I think I'll stick to the replying to reviews that pose questions, that sounds good? Thank you to everyone that had reviewed/favourited/followed!

H4NN4H P0TT3R4V1 - I'm expecting it to be, but I tend to take a while to get there in my stories!