Chapter Twelve:
Happy Birthday!
Today was Adam Edward Hathaway's birthday, and Xack had nothing to give him. She was extremely nervous. She did everything she could to find the gift that her younger brother wanted so badly, but alas, no matter where she searched, no store had what she was looking for. Xack felt depressed, and on the verge of crying...but she held in the tears as best as she could. Actually, she felt so distraught about all this, that she didn't want to go to the party at all, but she knew her family would be angry.
As Xack sat there on her living room couch, staring up at the clock and watching the little hands intently, her mind could not be taken off of the soon-to-be party. She buried her face within her hands. "Why me? Why?" She sobbed in her mind. "Why did Shaun make me try to find the hardest gift Eddie could want? It's...it's just not fair!" She sighed inwardly. "Just what am I supposed to do now?" Xack gazed up at the clock again. She didn't want to go to the party. She really didn't.
"I...I better get going..." Xack got up from the couch, and as she headed for the door, she peeked over her shoulder to give the apartment one last look before she left. When she saw everything seemed to be in order, out the door she went.
Just as Xack had locked the door behind and made her way down the hall, her eyes bugged out slightly when she saw Jason coming her way. Xack scowled. She didn't feel like making small talk with anyone, but there was no way to avoid conversation, since the man was practically blocking her.
"Ah, hello there, Xack!" Jason greeted with a rather large grin to his face, which kind of made Xack feel uneasy.
"Um...hi, Jason," Xack said to him quietly, avoiding his eye line.
Jason, who held a toolbox under an arm, breathed out happily. "So, where are you going on this fine day?"
Xack scoffed. "'Fine day?' It's HOT!" "M-my little brother has a birthday today, so...I'm going to...his party." She forced a smile on her face.
"Hmm... How exciting," he said, but there was no enthusiasm in his voice.
"Well..." Xack sidestepped around him carefully so that she could get to the other side. "I...I really have to get going now, so..."
Jason's smile widened and he waved a hand in a manner that he didn't need to hear anymore from her. "Say no more. I understand you have to be on your merry way." Before he could even finish, Xack was already swiftly walking away to head downstairs to leave the complex. "Have fun at the party!" He called out to her, and when she could be seen no more, he snickered quietly to himself.
When Xack left her apartment complex, she immediately approached the edge of the street to try and shout for a taxi. It took some tries for her to raise her voice loud enough for the drivers to hear, but one managed to pull up to the curb, and she got in. Without even looking at her, the driver asked in a surly voice, "Where to?"
"Dave and Busters," Xack answered shyly, and paid the driver whatever he needed for the ride there.
As the taxi pulled away and began driving down the busy streets of Gotham, Xack knew it would be a little while before they reached their destination, so...the girl began to daydream. Unfortunately, even when daydreaming, older thoughts still rooted-up and haunted her. The past misery never ends in her mind. Sometimes these thoughts still feel like they just happened yesterday... "Think about something else..." her mind pleaded urgently. Xack tried hard, but managed to think of her current, sticky situation on not finding the present Eddie wanted.
While so lost in her own thoughts, Xack felt someone brush a hand over her arm lightly, and by doing this, caused her to gasp in fright and jump in her seat. She snapped back to reality and her eyes were darting all over the place to see who could of touched her. To her dismay, there was no one; it was all in her head. She shivered.
Suddenly, she heard the taxi driver say to her, "Hey, we're here."
Xack gazed out the window and saw the vehicle pull towards the side of the large building. She looked up on it and forgot how big the place really was. "You gettin' out, or what?" The driver turned around in his seat and put an arm up on the head rest.
One again, Xack came to her senses. "Oh! I-I'm sorry. I just...um..." She suddenly clamped her mouth shut, and hastily got out of the taxi to avoid any more embarrassing talk with him. She watched the taxi pull away, and she didn't start moving until it completely left the vicinity. "I wish he pulled up closer to the entrance." She said rather disappointingly, seeing that the entrance doors were still far away from her. There was no use for her to keep on complaining about it, so she started walking.
When she went around the corner to get closer to the doors, she saw three figures leaning up against the bricked wall, smoking away. Xack didn't pay much heed to them, but once she could see their faces more clearly, she knew one of them to be Shaun. The other two men with him were his friends, who Xack had to ponder for a moment of their names: Tye and Byrone.
"Hey, punk," Shaun mumbled through a cigarette as he caught sight of Xack. Xack stopped. She was actually hoping he wouldn't have seen her at all. "You always come too early, ya know."
Xack turned her head to the three men and a small, nervous smile came to her face. "Hi, Shaun, and-- hi...Tye. Byrone." The other two merely nodded their heads to her. "S-so where are Eddie and Victoria?"
"They're inside with the other kids." Shaun took the cigarette from his mouth and blew out smoke.
Her eyes widened. "You...you left them alone?" She wondered worriedly.
Shaun scoffed in aggravation. "God, Xack-- no, I didn't. Jesus, I'm not stupid. There's adults in there and everythin'. Besides, your 'friend' Bruce said he'd watch them while I went out for a smoke."
"Bruce is here already?"
Shaun rolled his eyes. "Isn't that what I just said?" His eyes turned their attention to her empty hands. "I take it you never got Eddie's present?"
A chill ran through Xack's body when she heard those words. "N-no... I...couldn't find it." She bit her lip in worriment.
Shaun was silent for a moment. "You know Eddie's gonna be pissed, right?"
"I looked everywhere for what he wanted, Shaun, but I just couldn't find it! But...I don't get why you made me do it," Xack said this as each word became increasingly upsetting.
He barely shrugged his shoulders. "Thought you'd find it." He shook his head and let out a slight laugh. "Guess not."
Xack felt more depressed than ever now. "Maybe...Eddie won't ask about it?" But...she knew he would. Eddie was still a young child. He wanted this gift badly. She remembered how he would talk about it for months. "Ugh...never mind. Eddie couldn't forget something like that..."
"...Hell-o..." Xack realized she had better quit going into her own 'world' when she was with other people. Shaun cocked his head so he could try and look into her eyes. "Are you goin' in or not?" He questioned impatiently.
The girl didn't answer. She just walked away from the three men to finally go inside the large building. Xack cringed when she heard the tree whisper amongst each other and laugh. She knew they were talking about her. "They have to be..."
Now, what most people loved about this place, was that it had a very large area for many types of arcade games. Xack figured that particular room took about seventy-five perfect of the whole building. So, towards the front is the gift shop and a "eating" area people would come to whenever they were hungry. Of course, there was a small area to eat in the game room, incase no one felt like eating up towards the entrance. Although Xack would of enjoyed eating in a quieter area, but Eddie's party was held in the back, so she had no choice but to go there.
As soon as Xack had come through the entrance, an employee near the door greeted her kindly with a simple, "Hello." He even smiled at her politely.
Xack just smiled and went about her way towards the back of the place. As she glided past other rooms, she could already here the loud "clanking" noises of the games, and the kids screaming and crying out excitedly over the ones they played. Xack loved this place because of the many games, but she always hated the crowds, and unfortunately, it was a crowded day indeed.
She stepped inside the game room, and as soon as she took that first step in, she knew she just entered Hell: complete with wild children. Xack didn't and couldn't play any games yet until she found where Eddie's party is. She knew the place to have a few "party rooms" off to the sides, so that's just where she headed. After some time of searching, she felt relieved to have finally found Bruce, who was sitting at a booth talking to a little girl. The booths near Bruce were occupied with Eddie's other friends and parents.
Xack approached the table, and Bruce smiled when he saw her, and so did the little girl, but her smile was much larger. "Good to see you, Xack." He said to her somewhat cheerily, and gestured a hand to the little girl seated across him. "I was just talking to your lovely niece."
"Hi!" Said the little girl named Victoria. "I was talkin' to Bruce about school."
"Oh?" Xack looked around, and then back down at the two. "So...where's Eddie?"
Bruce chuckled. "As soon as he got his game card, he immediately ran off to play some games. Funny kid he can be with them." Victoria giggled slightly and toyed with her game card on the table.
Victoria Hathaway had just turned eight a few weeks ago, and this always bothered Shaun because her and Eddie's birthdays were close together. For a little girl, she spoke very well for her age, since one could speak to her as if she were an older teenager. Victoria had long, dark brown hair, brown eyes, and a very fair face to her. She was probably the nicest child you could ever meet, although she and Eddie do tend to fuss a lot amongst each other.
"I'm gonna go play games now," Victoria told them as she scooted herself to the edge of her seat.
"Okay then," said a nervous Xack, and then she watched Victoria run off past other children to find a game to play. She sat down in Victoria's place, and slouched in her seat a bit. Oddly enough, both her and Bruce were quiet. "So..." Xack began slowly, unsure of herself honestly. She quickly took glances at the sides before she continued. "I've seen that Batgirl on TV...sometimes." Bruce just blinked at her. "You never said you got a, um...'sidekick'."
"She's not my sidekick," he told her sternly, a little annoyed by the whole "sidekick" thing, "and I don't think this is a good place to talk about it."
"Pfft." Xack scoffed and gestured her arm out. "Who's going to notice? This place is so loud, that--" She laughed a little. "That I can hardly hear you." She sat up. "So...um...d-did you ever...um...think about me being your sidekick?..." She felt embarrassed asking a question like that.
Bruce sighed and crossed his arms. "I did, at first..." Xack's gazed turn downwards because she knew there was going to be a "but" or "however" involved with his sentence. "...but..."
"There it is."
"Because of your 'history' with Joker, it made me wonder what you would do if the situation were to arise when you came across him." He leaned in more with a sincere look to him. "I believe you would of made a great ally, but...because of that fact, you could never be my sidekick."
"Oh." Xack taped a few fingers on the table and sniffed. "I see..." She went into her pocket and withdrew her cell phone, looked the time over carefully and set it down in front of her.
"...I shouldn't have told you..." He said quietly, but loud enough for her to hear. "Now you're upset with me, but...I hope you understand why I made that decision."
"Don't you remember what I told you, Xackie?" Joker's voice rang through her head. "Be my henchgirl; not Batsy's!"
"...but I don't go that way..." said Xack disapprovingly. "...and neither...do you..."
"...Xack?..." Bruce tilted his head to the side as he watched Xack just stare past him, her eyes wide like she was in some sort of trance. "Did you hear what I said?"
"...Yes..." She said softly, moving her phone over to the side. "I heard you, and...I understand why." She gave him a small smile of reassurance, but it was not enough to convince him that she was fine.
"Well, I'm...I'm going to go see if I can find Eddie, and...I'm going to play a few games." An odd smile came on Xack's face. "Do you want to play any with me? Playing House of The Dead is actually hard to do by myself."
Bruce raised an eyebrow at her. "'House of The Dead?'"
Xack nodded. "Yeah. It's a shooting game, and it's fun because it has horror in it!"
A small smile came to Bruce, but he shook his head. "Maybe later." He handed Xack her own game card. "Have fun though."
"Oh..." She took the game card and stuffed it into her jeans pocket. "Okay then..." She got up and walked around by herself to see just what kinds of games the place had to offer...not to mention to see how her younger brother was doing. Probably after five minutes of searching, she finally found him. It looked like he was playing some sort of racing game with a few of his other young friends, while many others huddled around them, watching and cheering on whoever. When she approached the boys, it seemed Eddie was finished, because when he saw his sister come by, he got off his toy motorcycle and smiled.
"Hi!" Eddie said happily, and he turned to a friend to get a large cup from his hands. The cup had many small tickets inside. "Look at all the tickets I got!"
Xack cracked a smirk on her lips. "Wow. That's a lot."
A boy next to Eddie looked up at Xack, and then back to him. "Is that your mom?" He asked Eddie somewhat dumbly. Xack frowned angrily.
Eddie just kept on smiling. "No!" He giggled. "That's my sister!" The other children giggled and snickered as well, and some even gazed up at Xack while doing so.
"I hate kids..." "Well... I...just came to see how you were doing, so...I'm off to play my own games." She left them to do their own thing. "I mean, I don't want to hang around those kids... They probably don't want me around anyways..." So Xack found the House of The Dead game she was looking for, she swiped her card so she could play, grabbed a toy gun to the side, and started shooting.
A short time later, Bruce happened to come by Xack to see what she was up to. He stood behind and watched with curiosity. He put a hand to his chin, thinking about the rather gruesome game the girl happened to be engaged in. It even made him feel nervous when he saw Xack give head-shots to the zombies almost every time. Even for a virtual game, the very thought of that fact worried him.
"Are you going to shoot with me?" Xack asked him without taking her eyes off the large screen.
Bruce stepped around to her side and shrugged. "I wouldn't be as good a shot as you are," he said casually. He still couldn't believe her accuracy for hitting digital monsters in the head.
"I'm not that good at this game," said Xack. Bruce seemed surprised she would say that. "I mean...I...I'm doing good now-- I'm...look, I'm almost getting all the zombies in the head!" Suddenly, a frustrated look came to her. "Ah! I died!" She put the toy gun in its place and turned to Bruce. "I love horror games like this." She smiled sweetly, which appeared creepy to others.
Bruce smiled as well. "I'm glad you're enjoying yourself here."
"Yeah...well..." She looked away shyly. "S-so...um...did you happen to see Shaun in here, by any chance? I want to ask him what time they're going to do Eddie's party...unless you know?"
Bruce shook his head. "I don't know what time it starts, but...I did happen to see your brother come back to the tables. That's when I got up and came to look for you."
"You don't like Shaun, do you?" "Well...I...better get back there and ask him...so...bye now..." She quickly walked away from Bruce, somehow embarrassed to be near him anymore.
Xack put a hand to her forehead to wipe away a few beads of sweat. "It's so hot in here... So many people... Just how long have I been here?" She quickly scanned her surroundings for some sort of clock, but from the looks of it, why would such a huge place have a clock hanging anyways? Xack thought it was silly of her to be looking for such a thing. "Okay...I'll just check my phone--" As her hands dug into her pockets, she gasped when she couldn't feel it. "Oh my God... My phone!" She patted her sides down but nothing felt like a phone to her. She suddenly remembered. "The table... I remember taking it out...and putting it on the table! Why am I so stupid to leave it there like that?!" She practically ran back to the table she sat at before, which was now occupied by Shaun, Victoria, and the two men that were with her brother outside at the time. Xack looked over it frantically, but she didn't see her cellphone.
Shaun turned to her and sniffed. "What's the matter with you?" He asked nonchalantly, seeing the panicked look on Xack's face.
"My phone!" Xack almost cried. "Have you seen my phone anywhere?"
"What's it look like?"
Xack rolled her eyes. She really didn't have time for things like this. "My phone is...small...and it's green."
Shaun shrugged. "Nope. Haven't seen it." Victoria just looked at her Aunt solemnly. "Heh... Can't believe you lost your phone. You didn't seem like the type to lose anything. Well...you better find it, 'cause you ain't gettin' another one. Those minutes ain't cheap, ya know."
Xack sighed and walked away from the table. "Some help he was..." She grumbled, and she felt like crying now. Her eyes tingled almost painfully to get the tears out. "I'll try asking the front desk or somebody to see if they've seen my phone... I hope one of the employee's have it..." She went around and asked the few workers if they've seen her cellphone, but so far no one has come across it. Losing hoping of ever finding it, she left the game room and towards the entrance to ask the front desk if anyone has found it.
"What does it look like?" The woman at the front desk asked Xack.
"It's small, green, and when you open it, it should have a picture of a fairy in it."
The woman bent down a bit, and Xack couldn't quite tell, but it seemed like the woman took out a plastic container and started to rummage through it. "Sorry, I don't see anything like that here." She said somewhat sadly as she got back up.
"Alright... Thanks anyways..." Xack practically trudged away, and when she got further away from the front desk, she cried a little. "I can't believe I lost my phone. I-I never lose things like that! I can't-- I can't believe I did this! Why me?! Why?" She tried so hard to fight the tears from coming further, because she didn't want to go back to the party with watery, red eyes. "My phone has actually been stolen! I...I can't believe--" She suddenly stopped in her tracks when she heard a phone ring nearby. The sound was faint, but Xack could hear it. It definitely wasn't a payphone ringing, since their were none around her. This ring was very distinctive since...it was a song Xack put on her cellphone.
Xack couldn't believe it. She turned all around herself to find the source of the sound. A bit off to her side were a set of stairs, but there was a sign hung loosely by strings that read "keep out: private parties only." Still though, if her cellphone was up these stairs...she just had to get it. As she approached the stairs...she stopped. "It's a trap...or something...I just know it. W-why did the cellphone ring now? I...I want someone to go with me..." Who was she kidding though? Even Xack knew no one would take her seriously if she told someone. Besides that, she would just feel silly asking someone to accompany her while she went upstairs to retrieve her phone. So...then and there, she decided to just brave it and get the phone herself. "I'll...I'll just scream or something if someone grabs me. I don't care what happens..." Xack stepped over the sign and headed upstairs cautiously.
A man entered the same building Eddie's party happened take place in. He made sure he was covered up well in his hooded sweatshirt. Both hands were holding a medium sized present. The wrapping in green and purple stripes with a orange bow to complete. A malicious grin never left his face as he came up to the front desk with this box.
The woman there became slightly startled by this man's presence, but tried to hide it as much as she could. "Can I help you, sir?" She asked calmly, her voice a bit shaky.
"Yes, you can," said the man, trying to contain his inner excitement, and he set the present down. The woman couldn't help but to stare suspiciously at the extreme paleness of his hands. "I saw this present sitting outside your facility, and I believe someone may have dropped it." He turned his head a little to witness a young woman slowly going up a set of stairs far off. His grin only grew wider.
As the woman took the present from him, she tried as much as she could to get a good look of his face, but the man before her would have none of that. She read the tag on the present: To Eddie. From Xack.
"Eddie?... Yes... I believe there is a child here by that name currently holding a party here." She looked back at the man. "Thank you for bringing this. I'm sure the child will be happy to know that he has another present waiting for him."
The man gave a slight nod. "I'm sure he will..." He turned around and began walking towards the doors, but he quickened his pace once he swung them open and went outside. He couldn't help himself by going off to the side and letting out his psychotic laughter that he had been trying to hide.
The ringing had stopped when Xack reached the top of the stairs. She noticed that the room was very dim, but just enough for her to see around. It was relatively small, with tables and chairs all set up to the sides, and seems it has already been prepared for some sort of "party." Xack knew she couldn't stay long before someone catches her, so she hurriedly searched around for her cellphone. It didn't take long to find it, since it sat on one of the tables edge, sticking out like a sore thumb. She slowly took her phone and checked it over carefully. She even examined to see if anyone made any calls or tampered with it whatsoever. Nothing. The phone appeared perfectly normal.
She quickly looked around incase someone decided to jump out at her, but who would do such a thing anyways? "Joker... That's who..."
Xack gasped so loudly when her phone started to ring again. Unfortunately, no number showed up, so she had no idea who could be calling. She didn't like this. "Who's calling me?... Why now? This is...scary..." Stupidly enough, she answered, afraid something might happen if she didn't. At first, she didn't hear anything on the other end, so she decided to speak first. "...Hello?..."
"...Is this...Xack?..."
In some ways, Xack was actually disappointed it wasn't Joker on the phone with her, but she had no idea who it was. All she knew it was a man's voice; an older man, by the sound of it. The tone of his voice almost had a hint of...insanity.
"Who is this?" She said into the phone, terrified of her caller.
The man gave off a few slight giggles before speaking again. "I never thought I would get to talk...with you... He talks about you a lot..."
Xack gasped again and her eyes widened. "Who...who are you talking about?..." She barely spoke in a meek voice.
"You know exactly who I'm talking about..." Xack whimpered and covered her mouth so the man couldn't hear her. "...So...how is the party going?"
"Wh-what?..."
"Your brother is...ten now...right?"
Xack breathed in and out heavily. "How do know that? H-how do you know...I'm here?" She questioned in a trembling voice.
The man chuckled. "How do you think? He's watching you...all the time..."
"What?!" She couldn't believe what she just heard. "No!" Xack cried into the phone, and even tears came down again. "He can't be! How can he be?!"
"He's always watching you..."
Xack had heard enough and she hastily pushed a button to end their "conversation." Just hearing that made her spin around swiftly to check everywhere in the small room. No. She couldn't stay in a room like this any longer. She ran out of there, almost crying again, but contained her tears; to hold the embarrassment of people seeing her cry, when they wouldn't believe why she was doing it in the first place. So...she walked -- almost ran -- to the nearest bathroom once she reached the arcade area again. Not caring who was in the large bathroom with her, she got into one of the stalls and closed the door hard. There, she leaned up against the side and cried quietly.
"This can't be happening... Not now..." She sobbed softly. "This has to be all in my head. It...has to be... There's no way...anyone would believe me. I can't even...believe myself..." She took some of the tissue from the dispenser and dried her eyes without smudging any of her dark eye makeup. After that, she remained silent so she could try to make sense of everything.
She was knocked back to her senses when she heard someone enter a stall next to her. "Oh no... How long have I been like this?" Even if she looked at her cellphone, she still wouldn't how long she's been in there, so she hurriedly left the bathroom, but not before washing her hands on the way out. When Xack got back to the booth she stayed at before, she saw wrapping paper all over the floor, and a few people circling around her seating area. Xack peeked around these people and saw Eddie sitting there smiling excitedly and admiring the gifts he got, and there was even a big birthday cake in front of him. The cake happened to be Death Note themed with a large drawing of Ryuk in the center.
"Where the hell you been?" Shaun asked, standing off to the side, staring at Xack angrily. "I been lookin' all over for you, so ya didn't miss Eddie gettin' his cake and stuff."
Xack opened her mouth, but no words came out. Finally, she managed to reply softly, apologetically, "I'm...I'm sorry. I didn't feel well, so I went into the bathroom..."
"Well, it don't matter, and-- hey, someone here found the gift you dropped." Xack blinked at him, and at first, she thought Shaun wasn't even talking to her.
"Um...what?..." She was very confused.
"Yeah. Someone said they found his gift you dropped outside, and...Eddie has it now. You told me you couldn't find it anywhere."
"Wh-what?" Xack carefully got through a few people and stood in front of Eddie. The boy held up the gift that she supposedly bought for him: a Death Note game for his DS system, but what made it special, is that it's the Japanese version. Xack was bewildered by this, so she rudely snatched the game from his hands to examine it more further. Now Eddie appeared to be shocked.
"Hey! What the hell are you doin'? That's his game!" Shaun pried the game from Xack's hands and gave it back to Eddie. "What's wrong with you?" Bruce, who had been watching silently this whole time, couldn't take his eyes off Eddie's acquired new present, and then to Xack with suspicion.
"I...I don't know..." She answered back quietly. "I guess...I couldn't believe it myself when I saw it..." Xack walked away from the small group slowly, just to distance herself from everyone.
Bruce walked past that group of people and up to Xack, ushering her to a place where they could talk a bit more privately. "What's going on, Xack?" He questioned authoritatively. "You got your brother the gift, yet you're looking at it as if you didn't get it at all."
Xack nodded slowly, slightly turning herself from Bruce. "Yeah." She barely squeaked. "I definitely...couldn't...believe it..." She sniffled.
Bruce eyed her oddly. "Is there something you're not telling me; and the wrapping his gift came in: that doesn't seem like colors you would pick out. I know you."
Xack stayed quiet for a moment. "I...I got him that gift, Bruce," she said a bit defensively, her voice faltering however. "I must of -- I mean...I was the only one who knew...what he really wanted..."
Bruce sighed, and without another word between the two, he walked away to join the rest of the party again. Xack just stood there, but she took her cellphone in her hand and looked down on it perplexed. "I...must of...dropped that gift...but...did I really...was I really...talking to someone...before?"
"I don't know what to believe...anymore..."
Around back of the building, where no one usually goes, Joker was there having fits of psychotic giggles, holding his gut so he wouldn't fall over laughing. Oh, did he just want to laugh so badly! He knew he shouldn't though, otherwise someone was bound to hear him. He grinned, giggling through clenched teeth as he peeked through a small window, which one could see most of the game room through.
"Joker?" Joker's eyes widened, still grinning, but spun around to see Penguin wobbling up to him casually. "What're you doing here?" Penguin slowly looked to his sides and then back at the perpetually grinning clown.
Joker threw his arms out wildly at his sides. "Pengy, ol' buddy, ol' pal!" He squealed, approaching him. Penguin took a step back. "What brings you to a place like this, hmm?" His grin grew wider, showing off more of those jig sawed teeth.
Penguin crossed his arms and glowered at him. "I could ask you the same thing...and I did! You first, clowny: why are you here?"
"Erm..." Joker glanced back at the small window and then at the frowning Penguin. He knew he couldn't tell him the real reason why he was here. There was no way. Suddenly, Joker smiled innocently and put an arm around Penguin. The smaller man grunted disgustedly and rudely shoved his arm off. "Why, I'm here to see Brucie's new kids!" He giggled as he spoke these words.
Penguin raised an eyebrow. "'Brucie?' You mean Bruce Wayne? He's got kids now?" Joker nodded excitedly. "I didn't hear anything about that."
Joker got behind him and eagerly pushed him towards the small window. "I couldn't believe it myself, honestly, so I had to come down here and see..."
Penguin growled lowly at the clown, but then he looked through the window himself. Most of the game room could be seen from within, but what was most important to him at the moment, was who he saw sitting at one of the booths. He squinted his eyes and adjusted his monocle a bit to focus better, but there was no mistaking it; there was Bruce Wayne at one of the tables, and across from him were two children, a small boy and a girl. "Hmm..." he started to think as he rubbed his chin.
Joker started to pace, taking odd steps as he did, and he clasped his hands behind his back. "So...you haven't told me yet why you're here..." He inquired.
Penguin snorted, "What else? To get some dirt on that Wayne guy. He's always on the news...but so are you..." He turned his head to get a better look at Joker, who stopped his pacing to shrug with uncertainty. "So...you really think those kids are his? They...could be his kids, I suppose..."
"Uh huh. Of course! Just look how happy those little brats are with him!" Joker pressed, hoping Penguin would fall for his lie.
Penguin still didn't buy it. "They could be someone else's' kids. They probably just want Wayne's money." He stepped away from the window and walked to Joker more threatening. "I don't buy any of this. Why are you telling me, anyways? What's in it for you, huh?" He pointed his umbrella at Joker.
Joker waved his arms out in front, as if he was innocent in all this. "Now, now... Why would I lie about something like that? It's not like I have it in for that rich oaf, you know." His tone suddenly grew sinister, darker. "Not like you, of course."
The two villains remained silent for a moment, but once again, Penguin turned his attention back to the window. He started to contemplate. "So... Wayne decided to adopt some kids, huh? Can understand why it's been kept quiet." He said this more to himself than to Joker.
As Penguin kept pondering what to do with this sort of information, Joker took a few steps away and started to snicker, holding his hands over his mouth so that Penguin couldn't hear. "Oh, what an idiot that bird-brain is!" He laughed in his head. "This just makes my goal a little more easier to get to...if...Pengy does...what I think...he'll do... Heh..."
Author's note: so sorry to have you wait on another long update. Actually...I was pondering a lot whether or not to do this chapter, but...I did it, and I hoped you enjoyed reading it.
The next chapter will have a lot more Joker involvement! :D