Outside common grounds, discreetly peering in through the window and sipping his coffee, the Riddler watched his prey as she hit the floor and the crowd swarmed around the fallen Barista.
A grin of monstrous proportions spread on Nygma's face. She swooned! She actually honest to goodness swooned!
Lots of people fainted at the sight of the Joker (either from terror or due to whatever funny colored gas was floating around the room), but no one had--to date--fainted over him.
Poor girl couldn't keep her feet under her after five minutes in his presence. How terribly flattering! He was starting to like her more and more…
He considered the occupants of the coffee shop as he continued to drink his coffee. It wasn't a disagreeable establishment at all, really. The clientele was mostly the white collar business type--the sorts who popped in on their lunch break or for their morning jolt of java--and it would, most likely, be a nice quiet place to hang about when rush hour wasn't in progress.
What better way to show the timid young thing that the interest was mutual than to spend a bit of free time in her company?
Of course, he'd have to set her straight eventually; he wasn't there for hanky panky (clearly that's what she was after--he didn't miss the way she gaped and gulped like a fish out of water at the mere sight of him--sexual attraction was simply a given. He was a dreadfully desirable man, if he did say so himself.), but it was nice to be lusted after…maybe he wouldn't have to set her straight right away.
It would be a shame to crush the girl's feelings, after all.
No, he would keep her as she was for now.
He cocked an eyebrow at the scene before him as the customers broke from their cluster formation around the unconscious young woman.
Hm. Looked like she was starting to come around. Looking delightfully ruffled and blushing as well. Intriguing.
Nygma frowned suddenly as an unexpected complication arose in his mind.
How exactly did one go about courting a henchgirl?
It's not that he couldn't figure it out, he'd just never done it before…for once, he was at a loss. The answer man was without an answer…
He snapped his fingers.
He'd ask around, that's all there was to that.
That should be simple enough.
He'd start with…
Wait, who would he ask?
The frown turned into an outright scowl. He certainly wouldn't ask the Joker for advice in this matter. Aside from the fact the clown would laugh at him (not that he was self conscious about that at all, oh no, not at all) his methods were likely to cause some kind of permanent damage to his intended.
He shuddered. The last thing he wanted was to warp a perfectly good mind the way the Joker would have…after all, he wanted her competent, if not smart. Another Harley Quinn was not the desired result of this project.
So the Joker was out.
Well, the Penguin always had women hanging around him…but Edward was relatively certain that had more to do with the shiny baubles he waved in the faces of debutantes and less to do with Cobblepot's personality (which was nonexistent, in Edward's opinion) than anything else.
Penguin was also crossed off his mental list.
Two Face hadn't any henchgirls recently, neither had the Scarecrow…
Well, that was discouraging.
It looked like he was on his own.