Brucie Boy part 38
Curiosity and Zai sat on the living room couch. Curiosity had dragged the old man outside and tossed him in a dumpster behind one of the more upscale houses. She'd insisted that she do it. This struck Zai as a little strange but she was glad that she didn't have to touch the putrid rotting corpse. Curiosity hadn't even bothered to put on gloves! Zai shuddered at the thought of touching something like that without gloves… At least she had washed her hands when she came back and used the antibacterial soap, not however, before she teasingly wiped her hand on Zai's pajama top. Zai was definitely going to have to take a shower. She hadn't washed her hair since they'd escaped anyway and she still smelled faintly of… she sniffed herself… macaroni…
She shuddered but remained seated as she and Curiosity watched the news. Curiosity's picture suddenly flashed upon the screen. Curiosity immediately started to crack up and pounded her fist on the side of the couch and fell to the floor with tears in her eyes.
"Those idiots think I'm DEAD!" She laughed uncontrollably now, finally calming herself down when her face seemed as if it couldn't get any redder.
She wiped the tears from her eyes. "Those idiots ACTUALLY think I'm dead… hmmm…" another spill of laughter busted from her gut.
Zai laughed a little bit to, although her laughter wasn't as feverish. She still recalled the night they escaped. When Crane had reached under a gurney to retrieve a scalpel to stab Curiosity, Curiosity lying on the floor, her pulse barely detectable.
"This is GREAT! Now Joker will think I'm dead and he won't come looking for me!"
"Yeah, and I won't have to take you back to him!" Zai said, realizing Curiosity's point, lifting her spirits considerably.
Curiosity stopped laughing abruptly.
"What did you just say?"
"Uh… I won't have to take you back to Joker…" Zai said thrown. What had she said?
"So THAT'S why you were back in Arkham wasn't it? You hadn't done ENOUGH damage so you came to Arkham to bring me BACK!" She said angrily, all pretenses of her younger self seeming to fall away from her face only to be replaced with sheer hatred.
"I said I'm NOT taking you back! Geez Sadie! Bipolar much? Just because he tells me to do something doesn't mean I actually do it!" Zai countered, mustering all the bravado she could even though she felt weak in the knees.
"MY NAME ISN'T SADIE!" Curiosity screamed.
She was about to berate her once more but stopped mid-word and instead took out her pocket knife and began stabbing a pillow on the couch repeatedly.
Zai fought the urge to run in the other direction as Curiosity's stabs became increasingly dramatic.
Finally Curiosity stopped and fell to her knees, letting the knife drop onto the floor next to her, burying her face between her knees.
When her breathing slowed down Zai slowly approached her and sat down beside her and thought about patting her on the back. She really hated physical contact but she felt compelled to do… something…
She patted her on the back and Curiosity flinched away as if her very touch were poisonous. Then her expression turned to something of guilt and she got up.
"I need some air… sorry…" Curiosity said quickly, almost whispering the last part but making it loud enough that Zai could still hear it as she ran out the front door despite the fact that she was still in her pajamas and it was beginning to snow.
Zai ran after her, nearly slipping on a patch of ice near the door. Curiosity had run out the front door. The entire neighborhood would see her if she wasn't careful…
Zai finally caught up to Curiosity at the edge of a long spiraling driveway. A mansion in front of them. Curiosity had stopped and just stared up at the night sky, taking in the hazy moonlight shining down on her, her breath steaming visibly in front of her face.
Zai stood next to her and looked up at the sky with her.
"You know… They say cowards die a thousand times before their death. The valiant only taste of death but once... This marks my fifth official death… Just once, I'd like a chance to actually live… I don't want to be constantly running for my life. All of my friends betray me, everyone else leaves me. I guess I deserve it… I've done horrible things to innocent people for no other reason than I wanted to… Now karma's out to get me." She laughed weakly. "So…" she finally turned to face Zai, "Which are you? Are you going to abandon me or betray me? Because if you're going to kill me I'd prefer if you did it now rather than let Joker do it for you…"
"Curiosity… I'm not going to kill you… and neither is Joker. He thinks you're dead and there's nothing that could possibly make him think otherwise…" Zai said comfortingly, gripping Curiosity's shoulders without realizing it, looking into her eyes.
Curiosity stood there for a moment and then sighed and looked away.
"Ok. I need some time to think…" She finally said.
Zai smiled softly. "Sure, but can you do it back at the house? It's starting to get really cold out here…"
Curiosity chuckled a little and looked down at her bare feet.
"Yeah… it is getting cold." Zai smiled at this and started to walk towards the house again.
"Hey Zai?"
"Yeah?"
"Thanks…"
"No problem… not everyone is cruel. There are actually good people you know." Zai said convincing both Curiosity and herself.
Perhaps she was right. Maybe there was good in the world. It was just buried under all the chaos and destruction, war and hate.
Suddenly a set of bright lights nearly blinded both of them and they quickly dodged out of the way and landed on the sidewalk. A wave of icy water soaked Zai as a car came into view. Curiosity quickly pulled Zai to her feet and threw her around the side of the house along with herself.
A bright blue Lamborghini parked in the driveway of the mansion and a dark haired man stepped out and walked around the side of the car to open the passenger's side door. A woman stepped out that both Zai AND Curiosity recognized immediately.
"Adrian…" the two whispered in confused unison.
Adrian was dressed in a dark blue skirt with a blue and white striped shirt and a butterfly belt; her hair pulled back in a braided tiara around the sides of her head.
"Sorry about dinner. Evidently you have to schedule reservations a week in advance." Bruce said as he led Adrian into the house, unlocking the door.
Curiosity smiled.
"Want to have a little fun?" she asked Zai, who's hair was now dripping with icy water.
"Sure… if it gets us inside then yes!" Zai said, her teeth chattering now.
Curiosity laughed and tugged on Zai's arm for her to follow. Zai flinched at the sudden contact but said nothing. Curiosity obviously wasn't the type of person to a pick fight with over why she shouldn't touch her.