Chapter 50: Time For Laments And Rescues
"I hurt him. I hurt everyone."
The words still pained Ruby like daggers through her flesh when she said them to the raven as it observed her while the two of them sat on a beam inside the Dragon Hall Clocktower.
The school's clocktower was the biggest tower in all of Dragon Hall and the biggest clocktower in the entire Isle Of The Lost. Some claimed that it had a mind of its own, since it both made the school bells ring whenever classes were in session and unleash thundering chimes to warn the villains on the Isle of what time it was. Another logical explanation was that the handles moved by themselves whenever it was daylight saving time. How this clocktower came to the Isle was always a mystery, but its ominous ticking and chiming reminded every villain of how time was precious and how they had wasted valuable time scheming evil only to be foiled by heroes.
Ruby was sitting on one of the beams that kept the ceiling from falling into the clocktower's mechanical system. While her back was overshadowed by the dark gears making awfully scary ticking noises that she didn't give a damn about, her eyes were looking at the sunlight coming through the clock made of broken stained glass (not stained glass like in churches but like unpolished glass), its shadowy handles moving slowly. Since the glass had some missing shards, ravens could easily fly in and out of the clocktower. Even the raven Ruby was talking to practically lived in the tower.
"I hurt everyone and yet I'm not sure if whether or not it's really my fault." Ruby's voice nearly broke as she spoke to the raven, who only ended up flying away. Most likely out of boredom.
Guilt had filled Ruby when she had seen Franz being taken away to the hospital, his body covered in blood. He wasn't dead and frankly she wasn't a big fan of his advances towards her, but Ruby felt like his accident was partially her fault even though she didn't know about it. And Franz was still one of the rare teens she knew from outside the Isle before her arrest. She didn't even volunteer to go join Madison to see if Franz would be alright. Franz was a fellow supervillain and she didn't even support him.
And what about the previous three victims? Ruby didn't know them fully, but she still felt guilty about their accidents. As far as she knew, it seemed like none of those accidents ever occurred before she came to the Isle. All of the victims had marks of villainy while she still hadn't received hers, which is quite late for a villainous child to obtain his or her mark. By doing the math, it would convict Ruby Kyle of the crimes, but she had done nothing nor got involved. So why was she still feeling guilty for something she hadn't committed? Maybe because of the terrible mistakes she made in the past?
Her right hand went through her pixie haircut, feeling each strand of hair barely reaching the back of her neck. Feeling her short haircut reminded Ruby of when she had grabbed a pair of scissors and destroyed her long hair, her career as the Shadow Seeker, and herself, when she learned that her mercenary ways had been exploited by certain authorities to capture criminals who haven't done anything to merit unfair imprisonment in the Isle Of The Lost.
Honestly, Ruby still had a hard time believing that she's walking in the same neighborhoods and going to the same school as the criminals she had unfairly wronged without her even knowing it. Franz, Madison, Martin...
Oh God, Martin...
Flashback: Jim Gordon's office, six months ago
'Shadow Seeker, I presume?' Lieutenant Jim Gordon asked near the end of May, when Shadow Seeker had entered his office. By that time, Shadow Seeker had developed quite a reputation as a mercenary in less than a few months. As far as records knew, her identity was unknown even to the top-secret organizations and she easily made $1,000 in less than two days.
'I received your business call. How may I use my services for you?' Shadow Seeker asked quietly. Gordon couldn't figure out who Shadow Seeker was, even though she wore a black toggle cape, leather gloves, dark pants, black running boots, and a black mask and goggles set that covered her entire face. The only thing unhidden by the costume was her long, flat brown hair flowing behind her back. Perhaps...
'If my services involve you getting a lock of my hair for DNA sampling, I can leave right away.' Shadow Seeker had pulled out a gun from underneath her cape, pointing it at Gordon. Lesson learned by Gordon: never underestimate Shadow Seeker.
'They won't, believe me.' Gordon straightened his tie. 'Your services are needed to help us retrieve a stolen item.' He handed her a paper as she put away her gun. She glanced at the paper and saw the picture of some sort of miniature idol depicting a meditating monkey being bothered by seven other monkeys climbing onto it. 'This a Japanese monkey netsuke made of pure ivory; the "Happy Buddha of the Eight Monkeys", as they call it. The Jump City Museum Of Natural History recently lost it at the hands of Monkey Fist and we need your help to retrieve it.'
'And what's your definition of 'retrieving'?' Shadow Seeker asked skeptically. 'Just sneaking into Monkey Fist's house, grab the statue, leave, and return it to the museum?'
'That along with an advanced payment of $10,000 as persuasion.' Jim Gordon pulled out a suitcase, placed it on the desk, and opened it, revealing to Shadow Seeker the stacks of lovely green dollar bills.
She didn't refuse the offer.
End of flashback
"I should have refused the money," Ruby facepalmed herself as the clock kept ticking. "I should have walked away...DAMN IT!"
Ruby shouldn't have leaned forward so much when she said those words, for she ended up leaning off the beam and beginning to fall down to certain doom. Time was ticking.
Her eyes nearly closed, preparing for doom, until she felt some kind of force grabbing her, saving her from doom, and bringing her safely onto the wooden floor.
"You really have this record for tempting death," a voice commented. Ruby's head turned to see Martin Fiske's shadow grey eyes stare at her as he held her. She blushed in embarrassment.
"Sorry," she said. "Guess I'm still shocked from what happened with Franz."
"Shocked to the point where you miss study hall and hide in the school clocktower?" Martin gently let go of her so that she could stand up on her feet normally. "Wouldn't it have been more conventional if you were hiding in, oh I don't know, the ladies' room?"
"I'm not comfortable being in occupied spaces like the ladies' room whenever I want to lament. So yeah, the creepy clocktower was my best option."
Martin looked up at the beam from which Ruby had fallen. "How the heck did you get all the way there?" he asked curiously. To answer his question, Ruby held out her hands, most specifically her fake fingernails. Martin touched her right index's fingernail with one of his clawed fingers and felt metal texture on his skin.
"Adamantium," he said quietly. "A very rare African metal that is indestructible. Costs a lot of money in the Isle Of The Lost black market...and quite an odd fashion trend for nails."
"I knew a scientist back in Gotham who gave me a special adamantium surgery if I gave him a large amount of money." Ruby wiggled her fingers, causing her fingernails to actually make metallic scratching noises. "I had to vandalize an entire bank and a billionaire's vault to pay up for it."
Martin whistled. "And to think my father spent his family fortune on radical genetic mutations just to get hands and feet like these." He motioned his monkey hands and feet. Many have found such characteristics creepy, especially since Martin had claws while Monkey Fist didn't.
Ruby let out a small grin before wincing in pain. Her rib cage and leg weren't feeling great, most notably the leg.
"You tried to push yourself up using both legs when you climbed up towards that beam, didn't you?" Martin asked seriously.
"I did," Ruby sighed in guilt. Then, without any notification, Martin lifted her up in his arms bridal style and began walking towards the staircase that led out of the clocktower. As he did so, Ruby tried to ignore those odd, warm shivers that she was getting from Martin's touch. His black-and-red martial arts uniform felt warm against her skin and her eyes couldn't ignore the large, red Chinese characters spelling 'monkey' on his shirt. "You're never gonna stop being a gentleman, are you?" she asked.
"I'm British, what did you expect?" Martin smirked. "And how about you? When are you going to start landing on your feet like any bad kitty?"
Ruby laughed at his joke and pretended to be offended. "Is that a reference to my near-death experience and my injured leg?"
"Maybe," Martin grinned.
"Ok, let me guess. You want payback from me acting like a damsel in distress..."
"While you're a tough tigress? Yes."
"OK. Name your price."
Martin smirked before asking her: "You wouldn't happen to know how to play mini-golf, do you?"
