Chapter 24: The Aftermath
Two little ink-creatures had arrived at the Lounge almost an hour later, shortly before the odd, mismatched group could leave. Both Batman and Robin had recognized them at once; Ink's little messengers she used when she was in trouble. The Scarecrow had joined them by this point in time, and upon seeing him, the creatures began to go wild with excitement. The Scarecrow didn't seem to think anything unusual about this in the least, and produced a sheet of blank paper for them. One of the creatures immediately began to scratch at the paper, writing out Ink's message about where they had disappeared to. She hadn't been able to give an exact location but was planning on leaving one of her little ink-friends with them, to help show them the way.
"Tell Ink that we're coming for her." Batman had said to the other creature. He cast a look at the rest of his bizarre rescue party and added, "All of us."
It blinked once, to show it understood, and immediately took off at a faster speed than any of them could have imagined, no doubt returning to the girls.
The sight of this, more than anything, prompted him to move.
It went against his instincts, partially, to just act without making the decision. But whoever those freaks had been, they took the kid with them, along with her two friends. Part of him honestly felt as though it wasn't worth the trouble. The other part still felt a sense of duty, and a strong attachment to the girl, considering how much like him she was. So when the little black blur took off—the Ink girl's pet, doubtless—he followed.
He'd worry about choices when it came time to decide whether or not to help.
The information Dorian had left her with an hour ago was almost too much to take in.
Langstrom was the one who could free her and her brothers?
Well, considering how much Logann seemed to respect the man, it seemed appropriate in a way.
On the other hand, Wraith wasn't too keen on the thought she might end up owing her life to the same scientist who'd been dangerous enough to turn himself into the Man-Bat, despite his recession from being a monster. Left with almost too much to ponder in such a short amount of time, Wraith had decided to try pushing her limits with Dorian and declared promptly that she was going to walk around the laboratory. The scientist, much to her surprise, didn't seem fazed in the least at this, and told her she was perfectly allowed to do so. He had taken to pestering Ink with questions and occasionally throwing calculating glances in Stitches's direction, as though wondering what she would look like as a mutant. Despite her earlier attempts at killing her, Wraith suddenly found herself cheering on the idea of Stitches getting out of Ink's ropes and taking a lunge at Dorian.
The hallways seemed to close in on her here and there, and she couldn't find any unlocked rooms with open windows she could consider using for an escape. Growling in frustration and worrying for her friend and—what was Stitches to her now? A friend or an enemy? Both, perhaps? A frenemy? Wraith wasn't sure that was a word, but as far as things went, given the circumstances, she was making it one. She resigned herself to simply exploring as much of the place as she was able, in order to get a feel of the layout and find a possible escape route for her and the others.
She took a left-hand hall to a door leading out onto a catwalk that hung suspended above a vast room filled with vegetation and stone columns, like something out of a Tomb Raider game. The air was a great deal warmer here and she could hear wildlife sounds like birds and frogs all around. She'd had no idea anything like this was being hidden in the place, and found herself shocked to see this…paddock, if her guess was right. Wings rustling with a mix of excitement and curiosity, Wraith walked up to the edge and peeked out over the handrail, trying to see the floor far below.
"I wouldn't do that, if I were you." came a cold voice that she now knew more than she had wanted to. She glanced up to the far end of the catwalk, where Milo was coming through an adjacent door, wrapping the glass plate with the ink in a handkerchief and pocketing it.
"Oh?" she demanded coldly, "And why would that be, you sick freak?"
"You could fall," he answered simply, not sounding too concerned, "This is Tygrus's training area."
"If you hadn't noticed," she spat, "the man-cat calls me 'Little Bird,' and he's got some weird bond going on with my older brother. I'm not too worried about falling if he's down there."
"Ah, yes, that's right. Dorian's little test-tube pseudo-son. I'd forgotten how much that disgusting furball had liked playing with you when the bunch of you were kids." Milo hissed as he came closer. Wraith's grip on the railing tightened as he came closer, and she ruffled her feathers, puffing them up out of instinct.
Yet somehow, despite the glare and the bowlcut, there was something attractive about the man, in a rugged Professor Snape kind of way.
Immediately she felt Guen at the back of her mind rise up and start to battle that feeling.
Have you forgotten what he tried to do to me? To us?! That's his technology working on us, toying with our instincts and emotions!
You think I don't know that?!
Wraith shot back, annoyed. It wasn't as if she could exactly control those thoughts from just popping into her head.
"Is something wrong, Guenhivyre?" Milo asked quietly, making her jump when she realized how close he'd gotten, just three feet away, dark eyes blazing.
"The name," she growled, balling her fists, "is Wraith. Guen's given me the reins for the time being, so if you want her, tough cookies."
Milo rolled his eyes. "Good lord, I don't deserve to put up with this." he muttered to himself.
"If you deserve anything, it's getting your cock ripped off for what you did to Guen and I when we were just a kid!" Wraith roared, seizing the front of his lab coat and slamming him against the handrail with enough force she made the catwalk actually wobble. "You tried to rape Guen!"
At this, Milo winced, looking like he'd just had to eat more sour food in that second than he ever had before in his life.
"I was younger," he murmured, "And drunk and stupid."
"Don't try feeding me that bullcrap, you asshole!" she spat, drawing back one of her fists and driving it against his hooked nose as hard as she could. She heard the splintering crack and watched in satisfaction as blood began to pour from his nostrils. "Dorian told me all about your gross little "wings" fetish. You sick monster!"
"Don't suppose…saying sorry…would help?" the scientist gulped, pulling a second handkerchief from one of the pockets of his lab coat and pressing it to his bloody, broken nose.
"And I don't suppose it goes without saying that you're an idiot." Wraith hissed, releasing his coat and letting him slowly slide down against the railing of the catwalk.
"Doesn't mean I warrant having my c—"
"Oh, no? Just see if I don't make Stitches do it! Bet she'd get a kick out of it." Wraith said, ending in a maniac chuckle as she leered down at the small man who, for several years, had haunted Guen's nightmares. Funny, really. He didn't seem so menacing any more. It was only after she considered this that she suddenly felt a strange weight around her neck and glanced down.
Her collar! When had he put it back on her?!
Not only was it her collar, but now there was a tag on the ring, like a dog tag, and it seemed to resemble one of—
"The Mad Hatter's mind control cards?! What the hell is this, you sicko?"
"Can't control you," Milo muttered darkly. "You're a different personality. An almost entirely separate mindset from my Guenhivyre. So I'm trying this to see if it works."
Fury bubbled up in her, overriding everything, and she drove her foot into his stomach, making him gag and choke, clutching his sides with pain.
"Achilles!" Dorian's enchanting voice came over a hidden PA system, almost making her jump, "Could you come here for a moment?"
Slowly Milo pushed himself to his feet, glaring at Wraith the entire time, his dark eyes blazing with hatred, and he silently swept past her back the way she'd come from. Glaring daggers at his back, she followed, and they returned to the laboratory where Dorian stood waiting next to an array of monitors, presumably all linked to different cameras in the building. He pointed out one in particular, where the screen was crackling with static.
"That was one of the cameras positioned over Tygrus's enclosure. I saw you both onscreen before it went out." he remarked.
"So what? Batteries die." Milo scoffed.
"No batteries; they're hooked up to an electrical outlet." Lance threw in.
"So someone cut the wires?" Wraith asked, trying to keep the excitement out of her voice as she exchanged a glance with both Stitches and Ink. Had their help come so soon? It seemed almost too good to be true, but she was willing to hope.
"It would appear so." Dorian responded, making her frown in confusion. He didn't seem at all bothered by the idea; in fact, if she had to guess, Wraith would have said the man seemed almost intrigued at the thought of an intruder. Not for the first time she wondered just what sort of aces the older man had hidden up his sleeves.
"Great. Just great. Peachy keen," Milo muttered darkly, crossing his arms in anger.
"Lancelot, Tygrus." Dorian said, "I want you both to run the corridors for a moment. Run the length of the building outside as well, and return to report to me! Pay attention to anything that seems out of the ordinary!"
The man-cat nodded before turning to the young entrepreneur, who nodded before standing rigid on the spot. For a moment, Wraith, Ink and Stitches stood confused, until they saw the dark green of Lance's irises begin to bleed over into the rest of his eyes, until the white was almost completely obscured. His perfectly slicked hair, so neatly kept right down to the three flyaway strands that made up his fringe, began to fly about his head as though shot through with an electric current and seemed to encase him, until his entire body was covered in fur the same shade as his hair. His face elongated into a muzzle and his mouth filled with sharp teeth as he threw back his head and howled, a long and high song of hunting. Then, as though they'd done it many times before, Lance and Tygrus rushed from the room, down the hall, and split apart, each taking a different corridor, running with a grace and speed that ought to belong to a pair of dancers, rather than mutants.
"WHOA! He really is a werewolf!" Wraith gasped, unable to stop herself. Rook hadn't been kidding! Suddenly she wasn't sure which of her half-brothers was more dangerous. Werewolf or not, Lance was a business tycoon, whereas Logann not only had Komodo dragon DNA, but training as well.
"DAYUM!" Stitches said in a raw, stunned voice, having finally wiggled her mouth free of the offending gag. "That was so cool!"
"A puppy, a birdy and a lizzy…" Ink murmured nearby, an impressed look in her mismatched eyes as a bit of her typical spazziness bubbled back to the surface. Wraith was about to berate her, when Milo swept past them to shut and lock the door.
"YO! What's that for? If you're trying to keep them out, you know that's not going to work." she snapped. The scientist turned to regard her, a quizzical look in his eye.
" 'Them?'" he asked, "This is for keeping you in, my angel. Now just who exactly is 'them' and why would we want to keep them out?"
Wraith nearly kicked herself there and then, which was probably the only reason Ink didn't do it for her.
Me and my big mouth!
Their patrol took around less than ten minutes to complete, but they still could find no signs of the mysterious trespasser. By the end of it, Tygrus was yowling in frustration and Lance had shifted back to his human form, his normally handsome face twisted with fury.
"Damn it all! Camera simply do not become disconnected of their own accord! There must be something we've overlooked!" he snarled.
"But we have…searched everywhere!" Tygrus responded, spreading his paws helplessly.
"Everywhere that was locked," Lance pointed out, "Are there any doors which are usually left unlocked?"
"Yes. The double doors…in the back. They are kept unlocked for when shipments of fresh prey for me are delivered."
"Then let us check there." Lance declared firmly. They turned and started to head that way, when the flare of headlights coming up the path to the laboratory stopped them short. Two vehicles, one sleek and black with webbed fins, the other an enormous Volkswagen van themed to Alice In Wonderland. Tygrus hissed, throwing up an arm to shield his sensitive yellow eyes, and Lance scowled his hands balling into fists at his sides.
"Presumptuous of me though this may be," he said slowly, "I do believe us to be looking at a brawl, dear Tygrus."
"I'm only going to ask one last time, and then I'm going to have to get forceful about this." Milo was growling in a barely controlled voice, fists clenched at his sides, "Who is coming?"
Stitches shrugged, not knowing or caring. Ink only smirked and turned her back on him. Wraith stuck her fingers in her ears and responded childishly with, "La la la la la la laaaaa, I can't heeeeear youuuuuu…."
Dorian was doubled over, clutching his sides, he was chuckling so hard.
"You do realize that strategy won't work, Achilles," he laughed, "You couldn't even muster an ounce of respect from Lancelot, if you tried!"
"Shut up, Dorian!" the younger man snarled, rounding on him, his pale face going red with anger and embarrassment.
"After all you've done to me, you just expect we're going to up and tell you anything?" Wraith spat, laughing darkly, "Pfft! Yeah, right! Wake up and smell the chloroform, you freak!"
"Hey look," Ink remarked, looking out the vast window on the opposite end of the room, "Our cavalry has arrived!"
The Batmobile pulled up first, parking almost automatically as Batman threw open the roof and leapt up and out, Robin and Incubus taking to the air behind him. He heard the Mad Hatter's van pull up behind them, but that was of little concern right now. What had his attention were the man-cat and the young millionaire before him.
Truth to tell, they warranted a little apprehension too, but he would never show that. Masking emotions was key, something which Lancelot Pendragon obviously had yet to accomplish outside of making business deals, the way his fists were clenched and the scowl on his face was deepening. Tygrus too, was snarling and glaring, though doubtless the man-cat remembered him.
"I didn't expect to see you here, Lancelot Pendragon." Batman remarked carefully as he approached the two. "Given your past history with Dorian and Milo, I am amazed that you would even hand your younger sister over to them."
The emerald eyes glittered dangerously, and Batman realized with a cold dread he was toeing a very thin line indeed.
"So. Zeus has told you everything, has he?" he said in a tight voice. Batman nodded, and he went on, "Then surely you know of the technology in our brains? Yes? Then you should know that I am in service to both men, against my will. Resisting an order is futile; even were I to throw my entire will against it, my body would still obey, even if my mind protested."
Batman's eyes narrowed, and he felt a surge of pity for the three mutants. He had considered Dorian and Milo both to be sick men previously, but this really put the icing on the matter.
"Is there no way the technology can be shut off without killing any of you?" he asked. Incubus hadn't known, but perhaps, since he was closer to the scientists, Pendragon would be privy to vital information.
"Yes, actually." Lancelot replied without hesitation, and Batman heard indrawn breath behind him; he didn't need to turn around to know that the Rouges had arrived and heard this, or that Incubus was even startled to learn about this.
"Lance," Tygrus said warily, putting a paw-like hand on the young man's shoulder, but he merely was waved off.
"Do not worry. These are not our enemies." the werewolf answered gently.
"That's what you think, Pendragon." Batman heard Incubus mutter behind him, most likely gripping his pimp cane in white-knuckled anger.
"I heard that, lizard," Lancelot spat before meeting Batman's eyes, those emerald chips of ice regarding him skeptically. Finally he said, "Langstrom."
"Langstrom?" Robin repeated in surprise.
"Langstrom is the key," Lance answered, "He, and he alone, knows the verbal command password to shut off the technology without killing us."
"So you tried to kill him when you didn't get it!" Incubus snarled in anger, taking a step forward, only to be held back by a spiked black glove.
"Yes…and no," came the cool response. "Milo wished me to kill Langstrom so the knowledge would die with him and Guenhivyre would never be free. However, despite the amount of hacking he did to gain access to my neurochip, Milo underestimated the strength of the connection between Dorian and myself. That was cultivated over time, and despite the orders that idiot gave me, Dorian overrode them. He wanted me to frighten Langstrom into giving up the password, but not kill him."
Batman listened carefully, his worst fears confirmed. Langstrom had always been dangerous before, owing to his trouble resisting the temptation of his Man-Bat formula, but now it seemed he was, figuratively, a nuclear weapon being battled over.
"I would have succeeded," the werewolf went on in scathing tones, "Had not a certain reptile interfered."
"HA! You wouldn't be half so cocky if I had Croc with me!" Incubus snapped pointing the pimp cane at him as though it were a sword.
"Because there's nothing near so intimidating as a walking handbag." Lancelot said sarcastically.
Batman could feel the muscles in Incubus's shoulder tighten, even through his Kevlar and the boy's leather. Apparently, Langstrom was more important to him than he'd first let on. Then again, considering that Maximillion Zeus probably hadn't been in his life often, Batman wouldn't put it past Incubus to have started looking at the scientist in a fatherly light. As for his relationship with Killer Croc… "birds of a feather," was often the term used, though in his case "lizards of a scale" would perhaps be more suited.
"We're going to get in there," Batman said in a voice of command, "And we are going to free your sister and her friends. You have no reason to prevent us."
"I won't let you hurt Father!" Tygrus suddenly growled, stepping forward, the fur on his hackles raising. "I could care less…about Milo! But I won't let you hurt Father!"
"I am afraid that I too, do not wish any harm to come to Dorian." Lancelot said firmly, beginning to shift back to his werewolf form, catching most of the Rogues off-guard.
"Allow me, Bats." he heard Incubus say in a cocky voice, and before he could stop the boy, he brought the cane's butt end to the ground. Three times he struck the cane against the ground, three high-pitched blasts of sound reverberated in the air around them. "Ladies, swarm the man-cat."
Like puppets on strings, all of them—Trick Deck, Banshee, Magpie, Erin Knightly—surged forward and rushed at Tygrus, catching all by surprise, including themselves. And the man-cat went down in a confused tangle of fur and colorful hair.
"Your cane can control women?!" Robin blurted out in surprise.
"Why do you think they call me Incubus?" he chuckled.
"Infidel!" the werewolf snarled, charging at them.
They attacked in near-perfect unison. Batman and Robin stepped back as Incubus, the Riddler, and the Scarecrow came at Lance, raising cane, sickle, and hook to meet fang and claw. Scarecrow lashed out with his sickle, slicing a neat line fur but drawing no blood, before darting off to the side, allowing Incubus to slide in, spinning his pimp cane like a drill team baton before bringing it up to smack Lance's side. The werewolf growled in annoyance as the top of the cane connected with his shoulder, and he shoved the young vigilante off to the side as the Riddler rushed at him, snarling in fury, raising his question-mark hooks high above his head. Magpie screamed for him to be careful, but Lance spun at the last second, whipping out with his tail and smacking the thin man aside. Batman had been prepared for this eventuality however, and took advantage of the werewolf leaving his back open, jumping high into the air, cape billowing behind him like the wings of his namesake as he brought both feet down hard on the mutant's back. Lance bellowed in pain, and Tygrus squirmed under the girls, tail thrashing as he yowled for his friend.
"ROBIN! NOW!" Batman shouted, and the Boy Wonder wasted no time. He drew a long cable from his belt and tied Lance's legs together, as Batman did the same with the werewolf's front paws. Incubus, having been given a similar cable, regained his breath and ran to the girls, where they assisted him in trussing up the panther-man in a like fashion.
"Wh-what is this?!" Lance demanded, struggling against his bindings.
"Titanium Bat-restraints. Can't leave home without 'em." Robin remarked.
It was at this point that Incubus tapped his cane against the ground again, releasing his control over the girls and apologizing.
"Right. Tetch, Knightly, Cook! You three stay out here and keep an eye on them!" Batman ordered.
"You mean, I'll be keeping an eye on them." Magpie muttered, throwing a dark look Jervis and Erin's way. The couple looked at her innocently as they sat on Tygrus, who was still thrashing, though with less enthusiasm.
"The rest of you, try to keep up. We need to find Pendragon and get her out of here!" Batman said, rushing toward the doors with Robin and Incubus at his heels. The Riddler and the Scarecrow followed almost immediately, and Trick Deck and Banshee exchanged a look and curt nod before bringing up the rear. Magpie sat rather unceremoniously on Lance, who yelped in protest and wriggled beneath her.
However, it became apparent that she and the other two weren't planning on budging any time soon, and Lance was left to ponder just how he could work their sympathy to his advantage.
"You do realize, of course," Dorian was saying carefully, "That no matter what measures you try to take, the Batman will break through them."
"BAH! He's only human! He can't possibly—"
"You're forgetting they've more than him with them, Achilles."
Wraith, Ink, and Stitches watched the two scientists argue for a while, and the only real astonishing thing about the conversation was Milo seemed incapable of interrupting Dorian when he spoke, as though he too, was mesmerized by the older man's voice. At one point, they heard something in the lab give a loud, piercing cry of pain, and Dorian looked up, blinking in surprise.
"Hmm. It seems they bested Garth. I suppose I ought to have warned him first." he remarked in a voice completely devoid of concern or sympathy.
"You're a sick, heartless bastard, you know that?" Wraith growled.
"You don't do me justice, my dear." he answered unconcernedly.
Several explosions were heard, followed by rapid gunfire.
"Trick Deck's exploding dice!" Ink said, a relieved smile coming over her features.
"I'd know the sound of Banshee's Uzis anywhere…" Stitches murmured.
"Impossible!" Milo gasped, "How did they get past Lancelot and Tygrus?!"
As if in answer, they heard gunfire again, right outside the door, and the girls managed to duck just as the door exploded, fragments of the wood raining down upon their heads like a strange parody of rain. When the smoke cleared, they saw the silhouette of Trick Deck, crouched with more of her dice spread between her fingers, Banshee at her back, guns raised and pointed toward the ceiling.
"Same way we're gonna get past you, honey," the strawberry-blonde replied, "Carefully."
"May! Akira! Eddy! Jonathan!" Ink cried in joy as the girls entered, flanked by the Scarecrow and the Riddler.
"The game's up, you two." Batman growled at the scientists as he entered, eyes narrowed. "Let them go."
"Ahh, Batman. Pleasant to see you, as ever." Dorian spoke as though they were old friends sitting down for a luncheon, standing at ease and leaning on his cane as he smiled.
"And what makes you think we're just going to give in to this ludicrous demand?" Milo snapped, only to have the Scarecrow surge forward and thrust the sickle before him, the thin blade cutting through the air just in front of the scientist's hooked nose with a sinister hiss.
"You've taken my understudy and my friend hostage." he said coolly, his eyes flicking briefly but with a significant weight toward Wraith and Ink. "I don't take kindly to such barbarian behavior."
"And what makes you think," the Riddler threw in, striding forward and thrusting the points of his hooks beneath Milo's chin, "I would just let you get off scot-free after everything you've done to Guenhivyre?"
"Oooh, does Riddly have a soft spot?" Milo mocked him with a sneer, dark eyes flashing. "Let's see how we can work that around. Wraith, attack him!"
It was like someone had tied puppet strings to her arms and legs, because before she could stop herself, her scythe was in her hands, unfolded, and she was shuffling with a pleasant buzz in her head toward the men, her green eyes focused on the Riddler, who was staring at her in shock.
It didn't make sense. Riddler was her friend, and Guen's friend too. Why was he suddenly her enemy?
The buzzing in her head paused, and she pulled up short, staring at them. Milo glared at her over his shoulder, his face twisted by an ugly sneer.
"What are you waiting for? Attack him, Wraith! He's threatening me!" he snarled, and her arms started to raise the scythe again.
Don't listen to him, Wraith! Don't listen! He may control me, but he can't make you obey! Guen was shouting to her somewhere in the back of her mind. Pull it together! He has Jervis's technology around our neck, trying to control you with it! Jervis's technology!
That, more than anything, was what snapped her back to reality.
"NO ONE TELLS WRAITH WHO TO KILL," she roared, turning on the scientist, raising her scythe high, "AND NO ONE PUTS THE MAD HATTER'S CARDS ON ME!"
But before she could bash his head in, two strong hands gripped her scythe and forced her to lower it slowly.
"Calm down, Miss Pendragon!" Batman commanded, his voice more menacing than anything she'd ever heard before.
"Do you have any idea—"
"I DO! And I'm ordering you to stop, before you have blood on your hands and you've passed the point of no return! You can end this madness here, Miss Pendragon!"
And for a moment, everything was still.
Absolutely still.
Then, very slowly, as though it took the vast effort of some inner will, Wraith lowered her scythe, wings rustling softly. She took a step backward, releasing a heavy sigh as Ink gently approached her and placed a comforting hand on her shoulder.
"It's okay, Guennie." she murmured quietly, "You did the right thing."
Wraith didn't stop looking at Milo, not entirely convinced Ink was accurate, given the way those dark eyes burned at her.
"Ink is right," Batman said firmly, and when Wraith looked over her shoulder at him, he gave her an approving nod. "However hard this may feel."
Even the Riddler gave her a weak smile as he approached her. For a moment he looked like he too, wished to say something, but instead he folded his arms around her, pulling her in a tight hug against him, making her heart flutter at the contact.
"I still say we take a bit off the top," Banshee growled, glaring at Milo, "Just in case. If Scarecrow will do the honors?"
"No!" Batman ordered sharply, making her and the other girls pout.
"You could always shoot him full of your fear toxins," Dorian spoke up suddenly, startling them all.
"Don't get too cocky, Dorian!" Batman snapped, "You're going to return to your cell in Stonegate for breaking out."
But the scientist merely continued to stand next to the computer, smiling indulgently as he pressed a sequence of buttons on the keyboard and answered, "No, I don't believe so."
Robin, Stitches and Trick Deck rushed at him, but they were all too late as the computer station and Dorian spun into the wall on a hidden track, another computer identical to the first being rotated back out.
"Hurry! Perhaps if we can figure out the sequence—" the Riddler started, releasing Wraith.
"Too late. We'll have to catch him later." Batman answered with a shake of his head. "Besides, we'd best be going." He pulled another Bat-restraint cable from his utility belt and tossed it to Banshee and Trick Deck. "Tie Professor Milo up as tight as you like. Ink, I want you to keep an eye on him."
Achilles Milo stared between the girls, his eyes finally resting on Ink, who was giving him her most menacing signature death glare, and gulped loudly.
"But it's the principle of the thing that you have to understand!" Jervis was saying, throwing his hands up in exasperation. He and Erin, for the better part of the ten minutes which they'd spent sitting on a giant panther-man while all the others were inside having a grand time, had been trying to convince Magpie why exactly she ought to take up reading Lewis Carroll's work. The pink-haired thief threw up her hand to forestall him from speaking further.
"Look Jerv, cheers, but I'm just not interested." she answered, quite bored having to listen to the lunatics rant and rave while baby-sitting—literally!—a walking throw rug. Perhaps the only upside to her current situation, irritated as she was, was only that Lancelot Pendragon had ceased struggling underneath her.
Suddenly, Tygrus's ears pricked up, and he shot up to an awkward position that involved him standing on his knees while resting his hands on the ground. He yowled strangely, as though answering a call, and pulled the cables off with his teeth and tail, dashing away before Erin, Jervis, and Vanessa could do much more than blink in astonishment.
"Dorian." Lance spoke up, startling them.
"Who?" they asked.
"Dorian," Lance explained, "He's calling us. I must go to him. I think he's injured."
The three exchanged skeptical looks; they'd not been able to stop the man-cat from escaping, but they weren't going to just let the werewolf get away.
"Please, I must go to him." he pleaded with them, staring at them with large green eyes. Jervis however, put his foot down.
"Sorry, old boy. Not going to happen."
"Miss Cook, Miss Knightly." Lance ignored the Englishman, trying one last desperate attempt, "Please. You are friends of my little sister, are you not? Then please set me free. I must help Dorian! Surely you cannot believe that I wished harm to come to Guenhivyre?"
The girls exchanged a look. He seemed sincere enough, but…
"I'm sorry," Erin shook her head, "But what Jervis says, goes."
"Not for me, it doesn't!" Magpie snorted, tugging the loose tie of the cable and letting it fall.
"Cook, what have you done?!" Jervis cried.
But Lance was already disappearing into the night, sounding a howl of freedom.
"Guess this just isn't your lucky day, huh Professor?" Robin chuckled.
"Zip it, Boy Blunder!" Milo snarled at him, only to be prodded sharply in the back by Ink.
"Less talking, more walking, bowlcut!" she and the girls snapped in unison before giggling that they'd jinxed each other.
"You do of course, realize that you're going to be placed in Arkham with the rest of us once Batman turns us in to the police." Riddler remarked casually, and Guenhivyre Pendragon nodded as Wraith retreated back into the recesses of their mind.
"I knew that from the second I helped Dr. Crane escape." she murmured quietly. Then she addressed the Scarecrow, "Which I've been meaning to talk to you about, Dr. Crane."
"Then speak." he replied coolly as they approached the catwalk above Tygrus's enclosure.
"I appreciate that you've helped me to get started, but sooner or later…well, a bird's got to leave its nest right? If you'll pardon the bad pun." she said.
"Are you quite sure you're ready to go freelance?" he asked, the folds of his burlap mask increasing as he raised an eyebrow at her.
"Well, it's just not working out. You're not happy with me as an understudy, and Wraith doesn't really like you as a mentor. Don't think I don't appreciate what you've done for me! I do, I really do! But…I think Ink makes you happier, if anyone." she said, throwing a grin at the blonde girl that made her blush gray-black and look away, though she was smiling happily.
"Th-this isn't about that!" the Scarecrow spluttered, throwing his hands up exasperatedly. "This is about whether you're ready or not!"
"Admit it, Dr. Crane. I drive you up a wall." Guen said placidly. "It's better for all of us if we sever ties. Besides, I got an offer for a job, and I plan on looking into it."
"You all realize of course," Batman growled as they started crossing the catwalk, "That I can hear every word you're saying."
"You're implying that should concern us, Bats." Trick Deck said in an off-hand, too-casual voice, causing the dynamic duo to exchange long-suffering expressions.
"Very well, Guenhivyre." the Scarecrow said with a sigh. "Though I have to admit, I've gotten used to having you and Inky around to keep things lively at the lab."
"And that's supposed to mean what?" she asked, chuckling.
"…Twitch is going to miss you." he answered in an irritated voice, staring determinedly ahead.
"Aww, I'll still come back to visit you guys! Besides, I don't know where Ink's apartment is yet, so I'll have to go to the lab to connect with you all anyway!" she said with a laugh, patting his shoulder, then added in an undertone, "Plus it's a good place to throw a party, with all that space."
"I'm going to pretend I didn't hear that." he muttered darkly, rolling his eyes before moving to walk beside Ink.
"Guen," the Riddler said softly, making electricity race up and down her spine, "All things considered, I wish to talk to you…about our relationship."
She looked up at him, staring into eyes hidden behind his domino mask, and tried to ignore Milo when he turned to glare at them so fast they heard his neck crick.
"Wh-what about it, Eddy?" she whispered.
"Surely you must have guessed my feelings for you by now." he began slowly. "Would I be incorrect in stating I believe you reciprocate those feelings?"
This statement caught the attention of the girls as well, who suddenly were as interested in the conversation as sharks smelling blood. They watched with wide eyes and bated breath, slowing down in their march over the catwalk. Guen swallowed over the lump in her throat. She couldn't deny the truth, no matter how much she didn't want to hurt Vanessa.
"No, you're right." she whispered.
"Guenhivyre…" the Riddler sighed, reaching for one of her hands, interlocking their fingers.
The lapse in the girls's concentration was all he needed at this point and Milo flung himself at them, driving his arm against the Riddler and knocking him over the edge of the catwalk before the girls tackled him again and bound him with Ink's ink.
Time seemed to slow before Guen's eyes as she watched Edward Nygma go over, his eyes wide with shock and fear. Throwing caution to the wind, she leapt above the railing, opening her wings, releasing her scythe as she seized one of his hands with hers and grabbed the railing.
"Guen!" the Riddler gasped hoarsely, looking at her in surprise. She could only groan in response. The Riddler was stick-thin for sure, but he was still taller and heavier than her, and the strain on her arm was almost more than she could bear. Her wings beat frantically and her grip on the railing began to slip—
But a black, Kevlar gloved hand seized her arm before she could lose her grip and Batman began to haul both her and the Riddler back up.
"Quick thinking, Miss Pendragon," he said in his gravely voice, "But not quick enough."
"Can you never just give a compliment and let it be that?" Robin muttered.
"H-here," Guen helped him pull Eddy up first, and she started to climb over before she realized something. "My scythe!"
"Leave it," Batman ordered, seizing both her arms before she could look back down.
"But—but—it—" she tried to protest, glancing down, hoping for some glint of the crescent blade among the trees.
"I said leave it!" he snapped. "It's not worth your life!"
But even as they began to march out, even as they met up with Incubus, who'd collared Garth, even as they got out to Erin, Jervis, and Magpie, she continued to look back at the laboratory, unable to erase the strange, heavy sense of loss she felt.
She'd had the scythe since the beginning. It was her weapon, her symbol, the object with which she'd shown everyone she wasn't just a little girl playing dress-up, but a force to be reckoned with. It had become as much a part of her as Wraith had. Without it…she looked at her empty hands, feeling a hollow pit growing in her stomach.
Where do we go from here? she asked, half-hoping Wraith would respond.
She did, sending back a wave of dark fear that would have made the Scarecrow jump with glee. She too, mourned the loss of the scythe. Without it, they were helpless.
Without the scythe, she and Guen couldn't defend themselves if Milo broke out of Stonegate and came after them again…