They say that the best part of waking up in the morning is going back to sleep. I however, didn't have the luxury of going back to sleep.
It's taken me awhile to fall asleep last night despite how tired I had been. It would've taken me awhile even if I hadn't had all the adrenaline going through my system. Questions had crowded my mind, each one appearing and disappearing as another took its place. Even now, the questions kept coming, preventing me from falling back asleep.
Dragging myself out of bed, I was greeted with a teenager-falls-asleep-with-makeup-on face in the mirror. Rolling my eyes, I trudged into the bathroom to wash my face. Wiping may face with a washcloth five minutes later, I stared at myself in the mirror as something dawned on me. I hadn't hesitated.
The one thing that I'd always had trouble with was fighting back. Even in training it was hard. So what had gotten into me last night? I hadn't really hesitated to attack and defend myself. Sure I had to mentally had to talk myself into it, it once I had nothing seemed to stop me. I stared down at my hands and my slightly bruised knuckles.
'It was the thrill of the moment,' I told myself, 'nothing more, nothing less.'
A part of me doubted that though. Part of me thought that what if it was a side effect from being around the Rouges? That was very possible. I wondered if it was a good or bad thing, certainly it had to be one or the other, right?
Deciding not to dwell on it too much, I quickly changed into a nondescript grey shirt and sweats before heading downstairs.
"How are you doing, Ridley?" Edward asked, eyes filled with concern as I entered the kitchen. I hadn't been in the mood to talk much last night, so I had ignored all of this questions on how things had gone.
Edward looked worse than I did though, I doubted that he'd gotten a moments rest either. Was it because he'd been worried? No, we'd gotten back around midnight. There was no reason unless he'd been doing something else after we'd gotten back; but what?
"Ridley?"
I shook myself out of my thoughts and gave a small smile, I'm fine, just tired.
"We're all tired," Jon grumbled, walking in just in time to see my reply. "The question is," he turned to Edward, "you don't look so hot. Why are you tired?"
"Research," Edward replied. "What happened was quite unexpected. It took me all night to get all the information that I thought I might need."
"Meaning that it's probably 98% useless stuff that nobody needs to know," Jon mumbled, walking over and fixing himself a cup of coffee.
What did you find out? I asked, sitting down at the table.
"I'll wait until Selina gets here so I don't have to explain things twice," Edward said, sitting down across from me.
"Oh, cause that would be such a bad thing to do," Jon said sarcastically.
"I'm too tired to argue with you right now," Edward deadpanned. He took off his glasses before rubbing his eyes.
"I'm right here," Selina said, walking in. She to, looked pretty bad; like a disgruntled cat.
"Perfect," Edward said, replacing his glasses.
"So what did you find out?" Jon asked, seemingly slightly put out that Edward hadn't taken his bait.
"Well," Edward began, "from what you told me last night, Robin and some other person crashed the robbery."
"That's putting it mildly," Jon grunted. "Some dumbass destroyed one of my best batches of Fear Toxin."
"That's what you get for bringing it with you," Edward retorted. "Anyway, it seems that Batman has some new sidekicks."
"Even the most stupid of people can clearly see that!" Jon burst out. "Just tell us who they are and what they were doing at the bank last night."
"Well, obviously they were there to—"
"I know why they were there!"
"Then why did you even ask?"
"Boys," Selina interrupted, "stop fighting. I'm in no mood to hear it today. Edward, continue. Jon kindly shut up, ok?"
"From what I can gather, which is enough to not warrant any major concern, the woman that was there last night was Barbara Gordon. Apparently she's going under the alias of 'Batgirl'."
A sense of jealousy rolled through me. I could've been in her place being this 'Batgirl'. Instead I was stuck on the wrong side of the tracks. Instead of being a hero in training, I was a villain in training. However, I did value my freedom, something that I probably never would've gotten had I not gotten kidnapped. Funny, how I thought getting kidnapped was more freedom than being stuck in the Wayne Manor. I needed to get my priorities straightened out.
"Why Barbara Gordon though?" Jon asked, finishing his coffee. "I mean, she's already the Commissioners daughter. It's not like she has to do more than that."
"I can only give you the facts that are presented to me though the evidence," Edward said with a shrug. "Finding out people's reasons for doing the things they do isn't my job. If I remember correctly, it's yours, doctor." He gave Jon a pointed look.
"Like I have time to psychoanalyze people anymore," Jon sniffed. "Especially when I'm trying not to get captured and sent to Arkham."
"We can probably get a good idea of why later," Selina said. "Let's just focus on what we know right now."
Edward nodded before continuing with his explanation, "I also found out that Richard Greyson had a falling out and is no longer the Boy Wonder. Before you make a comment about me not knowing what people are thinking Jon," Edward added, "it was obvious enough from last night."
"I wasn't going to say anything," Jon said, frowning.
"That's besides the point," Edward said. "Richard Greyson is no longer Robin. I suppose there's a point in time when you can't call a man in his late twenties 'Boy Wonder' anymore."
A sinking feeling went through me and I bit my lip. I had my suspicions of what last night could've meant with Richard not being there, but it really didn't sink in until now; when it was actually soldly proven.
Wait, I signed, if Richard isn't Robin anymore, then who is?
"I'm still working on the logistics of it," Edward said.
"That's his way of saying that he doesn't know," Jon informed me. "He just won't admit it."
"Of course I know!" Edward said, giving Jon a hurt look. "Or at least I have a few possibilities of who it might be."
"Name a few then," Jon said, crossing his arms and leaning back, waiting for an answer.
"Well, I-I'm not sure if—"
"You don't know, do you?" Jon said with a smirk.
"O-of course I do!" Edward said, eyes widening. "I just don't know if it's the best to—"
"To what?"
"I—"
"Why don't we go and watch the News?" Selina interrupted, pushing off of the counter that she'd been leaning against.
Good idea, I signed, getting up to follow her.
I didn't particularly want to go and watch the News, I tended to avoid it as much as I could. However, I was willing to make an exception if it meant I could get away from Edward and Jon's arguing. How could they not get tired of it? Always bickering, almost every single moment of the day. They should just accept their differences, be friends; kiss and make up.
Entering the living room behind Selina, I made a beeline for the couch and curled up in one of the corners. Selina sat down in front of the TV and grabbed the remote. Catching movement out of the corner of my eye, I turned to see Edward and Jon enter the room as well.
"You two better not continue your argument in here," Selina said as Jon settled down next to her and Edward moved to sit next to me.
I scooted over to make room for him before turning my attention to the TV as Selina turned it on and flipped over to the News. She just caught the report on what had happened last night; the apparently had been talking about it for a while now, and we were only catching the tail end.
Vicky Vale, the usual News reporter, was standing outside the desecrated bank giving her report.
"— knows why the Rouges attacked this bank," she was saying, "certainly no the usual stuff we see. Reports say that Catwoman and The Scarecrow were seen at the scene of the crime, as well as a possible new Rouge that no one has ever seen before."
"I-it was scary," a man said, and I recognized him immediately as the one whose phone I'd broken.
"I'd never had any contact with the Rouges before, and to run into one that I'd never heard of? Terrifying. At least I know what Catwoman and The Scarecrow are capable of based on reports."
The man, whose name was apparently Dale Leonard according to the News, shifted from foot to foot and was sweating profusely.
"The unknown can be quite scary," Vicky said gravely and the camera switched back to her.
"It's not just the unknown," Jon mumbled.
Selina shushed him and turned back to the TV.
Vicky was in the process of interviewing another civilian, one who'd not been a witness to the crime.
"What do you think after hearing about last night's crime?" She asked an elderly woman whose name was listed as Ester Murray.
"Oh, it was just horrendous," Ester did, putting a hand over her heart. "From what I've heard, this new Rouge is a young girl, no older than my grandson. It's awful to see such bright minds take the wrong path in life. I bet that poor girls parents just didn't care about her."
My eye twitched as I heard her words. That wasn't the reason, why would it be? I'd been kidnapped, I didn't choose to commit a crime, though I also wasn't forced to. Edward and Theo there would've expected my choice if I had said that I didn't want to do it, it still, why had I done it? Was it to prove a point? And if so, to who?
"She doesn't know what she's saying," Edward said, patting my arm. "Don't worry about it. Those simpletons will never know the full story, they can't. They're minds are so closed off that they refuse to see both sides. They only see what they want to see. They can only understand what their minds will allow them to."
I nodded absentmindedly and picked up a small stone statue of a bear that was standing on the end table. I turned it over in my hands and thought about how weird it was for people to talk about me without them knowing it was me. The News would have a field day if they ever found out.
"What does this new Rouge mean, and what does this entail for the city of Gotham?" Vicky asked, to no one in particular. The camera then switched back to the News anchor, in the studio.
"Thank you, Vicky," he said, "those Rouges certainly make Gotham an interesting and dangerous place to live."
"Of course it does," Jon said with a snort.
"There still had been no news on the whereabouts of the recently kidnapped Ridley Wayne." The News anchor shuffled some papers around. "The 18 year old adopted daughter of Bruce Wayne has had some questionable—"
Turn it off, I signed, please. I don't— I don't want to hear anymore.
"Selina," Edward said, "can you turn it off? Ridley doesn't want to—"
"No way are we going to turn this off," Jon said, snatching the remote from Selina's hands.
"Jon!" Selina said, "give it back!"
"No!" Jon said, using his long limbs to his advantage and holding the remote out of Selina's reach.
"Jonathan!" Edward said harshly as I curled up and rocked back and forth on the couch. "Either give it to Selina or turn the damned TV off!"
"I thought you'd be all for finding out more about her!" Jon said.
"Under different circumstances, yes!" Edward said, half rising out of his seat. "But not like this! Not when Ridley clearly doesn't want to!"
"She's gotta face her fears some how!" Jon said with a maniacal laugh. "Come on, Eddie! Haven't you said that 'the best way to overcome your fear is by facing it.'? What's there to be afraid of? A few idiotic people that don't know what they're talking about? That's not true fear!"
"Of course they're idiots!" Edward said sitting back down. "Most of Gotham— Argh! Stop changing the subject!" He shook his head to clear it.
"I wasn't the one to change the subject, you were!" Jon said, or was it Scarecrow now? "I was merely pointing out a fact!"
"Facts aside," Selina said, "I really think that we—"
"You want to talk about 'true fear'?" Edward shouted, interrupting Selina. "Why don't we talk about you and—"
"Don't you DARE say anything about Georgia!" Scarecrow said with a roar.
"Both of you need to stop it now!" Selina said, eyes flashing in anger.
"Shut up!" Edward and Scarecrow both yelled.
"Don't you dare tell me to shut up!"
My attention caught on what was on the TV, and against my better judgement, I tuned out the yelling to listen to what they were saying on the News.
"—here with a few of Ridley's classmates who've agreed to speak with us," the News anchor was saying. The camera panned over to Kyle and one of his friends, Gale, if I remembered correctly.
'Well this is just great,' I thought.
"So what can you tell us about Ridley, Mr. Duncan?" And interviewer asked Kyle.
Kyle physically puffed up before speaking. "I don't know a lot about her," he admitted, "but from what I've heard, she was a very troubled person."
"How so?" The interviewer asked, tilting their head slightly.
"It's not appropriate for me to say on television," Kyle said, "but—" he mimed cutting his wrists.
The interviewed face twitched and she nodded in understanding. "I see. And did you ever try to help Ridley with her, ah, problems?"
"I did try to once," Kyle said, face turning somber.
'Liar! You were the one that harassed me!'
Something crashed to the ground behind me, but I paid no attention.
"I tried to help," Kyle repeated, grief filling his eyes. The camera zoomed in in his face and I scowled in disgust. What a faker!
"Instead, I got yelled at by one of her 'friends'," he made air quotes, "he was her only friend really."
"Are you referring to Maxwell Knight?" the interviewer asked.
"Yes," Kyle said, before taking a deep breath, "though everyone knows him as Max at school. Have you talked to him about all of this?"
"Maxwell Knight disappeared two days after Ridley's kidnapping," the interviewer said, and Kyle's eyes widened.
Max? Disappeared? What the heck? What was he— Where'd he go? Edward, Jon and Selina didn't do anything to him and not tell me, did they? It was very possible that Jon could've used him in his sxperiments, but wouldn't I have heard or noticed something? What was going on?
"Do you believe that Mr. Knight could have anything to do with Ridley's kidnapping?"
"I fully believe it," Kyle said firmly. "Max was oddly loyal to Ridley and loved talking about the Rouges. He did a project on them once I believe."
'Yeah, so we would learn about what they were like and how they went about their business.' I thought as I recalled that presentation. Max had done a good job of getting his facts straight with that ine. How each Rouge came to be, their first major cime, number of times they'd been shut away in Arkham... I'd helped him of course.
"Well, you'll be comforted that the police are on the look out for both Ridley Wayne and Maxwell Kinght," the interviewer said.
"I have one last thing to say," Kyle said.
Uh oh.
"I'd like to actually personally say a 'Fuck you' to the Rouges that took Ridley way from me. I was going to ask her to Prom, you know."
The fuck he was!
The interviewed eyes filled with pity and she shook her head in sympathy, "Such a sad thing! If the police do find and rescue her, would you still ask her out?"
"Only if they didn't defile her like the do to other people," Kyle said bluntly, "I mean who wants—"
Before I realized what had happened, I was on my feet and the little stone statue was out of my hand, flying towards the TV. It hit the screen with a Crack! sending a spiderweb of cracks across its surface.
The chaos behind me froze as the TV glitches and then turned black with a faint sound.
Edward tentatively let go of Jon and asked, "Ridley?"