Two Heads About Everything
Chapter Twenty-One: Long Lost Loves
Ace drove safely through the streets, though she knew what would lie ahead...eventually. She had worked it out last night as she listened to the ongoing screaming between Chance and Two-Face, and knew the future could only postpone the destiny between two best friends. Knowing that one day, Ace and Chance would one day have to fight it out, she saddened. It was not a secret between them. Ace had known for some time that if Joker would not set aside Gotham, Chance would have to bring her down before touching Joker. It was a pact, a silent promise. As Penguin once said, there was a honor among thieves that Batman or other officers would never understand.
Chance wanted to reach the top. And Ace always knew that nothing could stand in her way. Ace had known that Chance had anticipated reaching the tippy top with a minimal amount of fuss: destroying the villains that would come her way would be a cinch, and on top of the world, she'd live like a queen, able to boss around her subjects and getting all the money in the world to her door step with Ace on her side like a loyal lieutanent. That had been the dream all along. But Ace had gotten in her plans several times; losing Chance fifty-billion dollars had destroyed that dream long ago. When Chance and Ace separated, that pact they made to fight alongside each other was destroyed, and they became each other's rival. When Chance allied herself with Two-Face and Ace became Joker's hench girl, they were on separate teams, fighting for their own.
However, Ace had no plans, and therefore, she was simply happy with the circumstances. Chance's involvement, getting her best friend back in the game, was a mere bonus after the fun time at the bank. But to Chance, it was just another obstacle to get through; Chance had intended for a year or two to end up on the top, but Harvey did not see her as a co-worker, merely a dog to instruct. Ace knew that eventually, Two-Face's leash on Chance would break. She didn't want to play the loyal subject, Ace always understood. Chance was very much a leader.
Ace glanced at Chance, who was watching out the window.
She smiled slightly at her grumpy friend.
They were always working well together when Chance hated Two-Face at the moment. It seemed as if the old times were back. Ace's reliance on Chance was that they still were best friends, but once more, they both had changed. Chance's promise to reach the top would be fulfilled. To do that, she'd have to fight through Ace. And although Ace would have given anything to let Chance get to the top, Ace's loyalties were strong, and so could not permit herself to let Chance attack Joker. This was why they would hit heads; Ace had loyalty toward Joker, and Chance had her promises. While Ace felt compelled to fall in love Joker, she thought eventually, he'd come to fall for her as well, and love would conquer all. Chance, on the end, despite romantically being involved with three of her past co-workers, couldn't believe that love and business should ever interfere. And if it did, she wouldn't surpass.
Ace, though, had to admit something. She wondered if Chance was trying to save Scarecrow because of her past dealing with him or because of that deal they had: save each other's asses is what the favor was. Perhaps Scarecrow always knew that eventually she would come back. Ace had to give him some credit. But would he really risk his neck over such a constricted woman?
"Lost in thought?" inquired Chance. Her face looked bored. Chance propped her head on a suspended elbow, pointing to the street which Ace had been parked in for a moment. Ace shook her head.
"Sorry..." Ace muttered.
"Sorry?" said Chance, suddenly amused. "You really must have been thinking hard."
"What?" returned Ace, mildly annoyed.
"What? You just apologized. A mass murderer like you apologizing to a serial killer like me?" Chance replied, but didn't expect anything in return. "You do remember where we're going, don't you?"
"To Crane's chemical laboratory, I got it." Ace remarked.
"Well, at least you haven't lost some of your memory. Turn right, we'll be in the back. We can come in that way and Batman is here, we'll avoid him for a few minutes. Unless he doesn't watch television."
Ace pulled in as instructed. Ace and Chance emerged from the car slowly, observing their surroundings. Ace covered her nose. Chance wrinkled hers.
"Ugh," Ace uttered. "You know he's at work. How does anyone not notice his vile shit?" she uttered, pointing at the sky to reveal a light cloud of smoke jutting out from the black sky.
"The public thinks this is a power plant. And don't you already know the smell?" Chance retorted. She lowered Ace's hands. "You're not inhaling anything. It's suppose to reek."
"Maybe I'll die of disgust." Ace retorted grimly, gagging.
The stench the two of them were referring to was a heavy, intoxicating waste, something mixed of extremely, overused perfume along with a hint of skunk juice, and the occasional hint of dogfood. The chemical lab was skirted near the ocean, so there was no doubt that it mixed with the water's pollution. And Chance knew Crane masked his solutions with a fragrance that to anyone else would smell like an insecure woman trying to hide her body odor. Chance gestured for Ace to follow.
They came in through large double doors. Chance withdraw a key from within her bra and pushed the rusty thing through.
"You still have that thing?" Ace retorted incredulously, hands on hips.
"I never leave without it."
"Don't tell me that you knew we would see him again!" Ace said loudly, feeling suddenly irritated.
"No, I knew we wouldn't meet again. I knew that I would come across his door at least once a year. To keep in touch, as I had promised him." Chance told her without looking at her. She turned the key and it clicked.
"You'd think he'd change the locks, though, after, what—three years!" Ace retorted sarcastically.
"Old habits die hard." Chance told her. The door opened.
Chance and Ace entered a dark room.
"Crane!" Ace cried out. Her voice echoed "..Ane...Ane...Ane..." She frowned. "And he didn't even put in carpet. Cheap, cheap, cheap, cheap."
"Knock it off." Chance told her when Ace mimed a chicken. "Crane!" Chance called out. Her voice echoed off the walls as Ace's did. "Ane...Ane...Ane...Ane."
"Batman wouldn't have taken him off to Arkham, would he?" Ace asked softly.
"He isn't here." Chance told her.
"Oh, yeah, and who are you today? A psychic?" Ace said irritably.
A pause.
Ace sighed. "Scarecrow!" she yelled out angrily.
From beside them, a voice said,
"All you had to do was say my name."
Ace glanced beside her to see a frightful looking sack mask stare at her; she saw through it, gazing at ice blue eyes.
"Take it off, Bird." Ace said. "You don't frighten me."
Chance smiled softly; she reached a hand toward his face and withdrew the sack.
"You were always a stone when it came to fear, Ace." Crane remarked admirably. "It's a pleasure to see you again...Of course," he added, "I won't ask you if you're here to kill me, but I anticipate that you aren't unarmed."
"I'm never unarmed." Ace said.
"Of course. I know this." He glanced at Chance fondly. "And you aren't either."
"Never." Chance told him.
"I thought not."
Ace glanced at the two of them with a sickened expression. Long lost loves. Ew...