The funeral was put together in six days flat, an amazing feat in Gotham City where hardly anything of importance gets done. I had to appreciate Pepper's work ethic.
The ceremony was beautiful, too. White lilies covered everything with a hint of sweet pea flowers and pink carnations spread about. The casket was closed and I didn't even want to begin to imagine what was beneath the top. A white altar stood behind the casket where the priest got up to say Mass.
As beautiful as everything was, I could barely bring myself to even lift my head to look around. I tried so hard not to cry, to keep my guilt and anger in check, but with the first of the consolations came the tears. It felt as if the entire world was smashing down on my shoulders, pressuring me to break, to give in to the temptation to join my mother.
But I couldn't do that. I had to tough it out.
Tony and Pepper flanked me through the entire ceremony, occasionally handing me a handkerchief to wipe my eyes on or, in Pepper's case, squeezing my hand reassuringly. Bruce stood behind me with his butler and good family friend Alfred.
"It wasn't your fault," Tony hissed in my ear as the ceremony came to an end and the pole bearers moved forward to carry the casket to the hearse. Bruce had volunteered himself to participate.
I choked on a sob and shook my head.
"The last thing I said to her was that she was suffocating me and holding me back from having any fun," I hiccupped. "She looked at me. If she hadn't looked at me she would have seen the light. That should be me! The car hit my side! She should be here, not me!"
I dissolved into tears by the time my little tirade had ended and for the first time in I couldn't even tell you how long, Tony pulled me into a hug.
"Looks like we have something else in common then." His voice was muffled by my hair, but his words only made me cry harder.
Tony held me still for a good few minutes longer, rubbing my back in an attempt to calm me enough to get me out to the hearse as well. I had to ride with the casket and that was quite possibly the very last thing I ever wanted to do in my life.
But I managed to convince myself to climb into the passenger seat anyway with promises from Tony that he would be in the car right behind us and everything would be all right.
Naively, I believed him.
We were about half way to the cemetery when it happened. A car in the procession exploded. Mad panic from nearly everyone was not far behind the blast; everyone except the hearse driver. The driver merely gave me a twisted grin and took a sharp left down Kinsley Ave.
I opened my mouth to scream, but a solid, cold object settled itself up to my temple and voice from behind me hissed,
"There ain't no reason ta scream. You can laugh if ya'd like. But no screamin'."
A red and black figure emerged from the back of the hearse and wedged herself between the driver and me to sit backwards on the center console, grinning. She held the gun against my head and stared me down beneath her black mask.
"Riley Stark presumably," she said, reclining back.
Too frightened to say no, I nodded.
"Good," said the clown woman. She turned to the driver. "Could ya hurry it up? We have a deadline ta meet!"
She kicked out her legs and giggled with mirth that her mission had been a success. She kept the gun pressed to my temple, which was a waste of energy to me. I was too scared to try to move regardless. I wondered idly if Tony and Pepper were okay.
We took another sharp left, heading down to the docks. My heart hammered in my chest and my fingers shook with adrenaline. The fight or flight instinct was kicking in.
Tony cursed vehemently as he slammed his car door shut. It had only taken him a second to realize the hearse was gone, taking Riley with it. The blast had only been a diversion.
"Where'd the hearse go?" demanded Bruce, rushing to Tony's side.
Tony gave a helpless shrug, glancing over his shoulder at the wrecked car behind them. Riley's neighbors had been in that car.
"Wayne, what the hell just happened?"
The Gotham Police Commissioner jogged up to the pair of them, frowning up at Bruce.
"I don't know, Jim," Bruce admitted. "The Guthrie's car just went up into the flames."
"The hearse is gone," muttered Tony. "Whoever it was took Riley."
"Why?" asked Bruce incredulously.
"Why do geese fly?" Tony snapped, rounding on him. "I don't know! The point is that she's gone! We need to find her and fast. She's not fully stable and she's still hurt."
"We'll find her, Stark," said Bruce calmly. "Don't panic. We have one of the best detectives in the world right here in Gotham."
Tony didn't miss the secretive glace Bruce shot Commissioner Gordon.
"We'll find her," Gordon repeated, trying to be reassuring.
Tony gave a short nod and turned to Pepper.
"Reschedule everything for the next two weeks," he instructed. "I'm not leaving Gotham without her."
Ow.
The zip-ties holding my wrists together bit into my skin again, rubbing the area raw and ripping open both old and new wounds. My ankles were bound to the legs of the chair with their own zip-ties.
I hated being immobile.
Rats surrounded my chair, squeaking and brushing up against me constantly. Horrible techno music blared all around me.
Two blue eyes popped up out of nowhere, shocking me to all hell. The maniacal grin came into view next and she pulled on my hair, forcing my head back. She covered my eyes with a scarf and the sensation of water running over my face felt good at first. The room was so stuffy and hot.
Until sitting with my head back and arms tied prevented me from wiping the water away. It got into my nose and mouth, choking me and making me sputter. I coughed and cried out.
Harley Quinn, as I later learned what the clown's name was, cackled as I cried. I thrashed around, trying to get away from the water, trying to spit it out and breathe.
No such luck.
Harley giggled and disappeared from the room as quickly as she had come, leaving me blindfolded and sopping wet, crying.
By the end of the first week, Tony could understand how his mother felt when he'd ran away the summer before entering high school. He was beside himself with worry for Riley. Where had she been taken? Was she alive? Was she hurt?
"Tony," Pepper muttered calmly, watching him eye his suitcase warily. He was pacing the hotel room, running his hands through his hair every so often and quite obviously itching to don his Iron Man suit to go find his cousin. "He'll find her."
"I don't trust this Batman guy," Tony hissed, stopping to lean up against the doorway to the bathroom. He pouted. "And I don't trust Bruce."
"Riley does," Pepper reminded him. "He's doing what he can—"
"I should be helping!" Tony shouted, pushing away from the wall. "I should be out there looking for her, not on house arrest from the Gotham City PD in a hotel. This has to be her Afghanistan, Pep—"
"Your lack of confidence and self-control astounds me, Stark," sneered the dark figure at the window.
Both Tony and Pepper whipped around, Pepper giving off a frightened squeak. Batman stood in the open French door balcony, casually leaning against the frame.
"Shouldn't you be on a man-hunt right about now?" demanded Tony, glaring at the masked man.
Batman gave a quick downcast look, allowing Tony to see him momentarily venerable.
"She hasn't given us any leads," he said. "Did you see which way they took off?"
Tony helplessly shrugged, looking rather distraught.
"It was the damn car bombing," he muttered. "It got everyone's attention. She could be halfway to Bermuda by now."
"I hardly think they had the time for that," Batman replied. "And I'm pretty sure Riley would attract too much attention being led around and airport bound by the ankles and screaming."
"Who said they went to the airport?" demanded Tony. He had taken a few steps toward Batman and was now right up against the hulking man. "A lot of people own their own jets."
"People like you and me," Batman spat back. "This wasn't someone like us—"
"Us?" Tony asked. His emotions were catching up to him and his voice cracked just a bit. "Who are you, Batsy?"
Tony noticed Batman give a visible grimace and turn away.
"You talk like you know Riley," he pressed on. "You talk like you're one of us, whoever "us" is. You think you can run this whole show on your own—"
"Iron Man's presence would only irritate the situation more," Batman cut in, obviously grateful for the chance to divert the attention from himself.
Tony wasn't fooled.
"Good!" he growled. "They need to be pressured! Whoever is behind this needs to know we'll stop at nothing to—"
"They may do something drastic," snapped Batman. "This isn't like dealing with a colleague gone bad. The criminals in this city are almost all in some state of psychosis or another. Adding someone new could create a really unstable environment for Riles—"
Then it clicked in Tony's head, just who Batman was. He had been the first person Tony ever heard call Riley "Riles".
"Bruce?"
Harley isn't being very nice. ( Poor Riley. Will they find her?