AN: Yep, this is the story I teased in my final author's note for The Bat, The Crane, And The Crow. As I alluded to there, the Villain Girls will be the main protagonists of this story, along with Barbi. Here, we'll be seeing some of their more human qualities, hopefully giving them a more sympathetic edge. Besides, you're either rooting for them or the Riddler. And you don't want to root for the Riddler, as you'll eventually see. But enough of me waffling on, it's story time!

Note: This is a pseudo-sequel to the story I mentioned above. At one point in the story, it will be required you read it to get the full experience.

As well as this, this story is darker than the original, with more violence overall, like at the end of this chapter. If you are not comfortable with that, you can leave. I won't judge.

Selina really didn't understand why people said that video games were rarely a source of friction. Especially since, at the moment, she felt like she was in a classroom full of first-graders when the teacher left for a smoke break.

"I'm not cheating!"

"Yeah you are!"

"How can I be cheating? It's all luck-based!"

"I don't know, hacking probably!

"Why'd we have to pick this board? It's awful!"

For the past two hours, but for what felt like two years, they had all been playing Get The Party Started! 5. The past few days had been boring as sin for Selina and her friends. None of them really had anything to do, which was actually surprising, considering it was just after Christmas. So, to counteract this boredom, Selina invited all her friends to her mansion to play some video games and chill. Harleen had sent her a text that said that she couldn't come - something about taking her hyenas to the vet - but the rest had come.

Well, they were playing video games. But they sure as Hell weren't chilling.

Right now, Carol was screaming at Doris for stealing her items, Doris was screaming at Leslie for 'cheating', Leslie was screaming at Carol for her trying to make her lose... Hell, even Pam, who usually just muttered an insult under her breath during these sessions, was whining about the board they chose. A part of Selina was seriously considering just evicting them from her house and just watching TV. Unfortunately, she'd just be back to being bored out of her skull. So, she had bared the screaming for the past hour.

Well, at exactly the two-hour-thirteen-minute mark (yeah, she kept count. It helped keep her mind off what sounded like a cacophony of tortured crows), she could stand it no longer. Without a word, she stood up from her bean bag, threw her controller down, marched up to the TV, and unplugged it.

Almost instantly, the screaming stopped. They all just looked at her, eyes wide. Selina just folded her arms.

Leslie was the first to speak. "What the hell, Selina? I was winning!"

Selina groaned, massaging her forehead. "You were all giving me - and I'm sure each other - a headache. It was a nightmare."

The four on the couch looked at each other, now looking a little embarrassed. "We were not," Pam muttered, rubbing her arm.

"Yes you were." Selina sat back down with them. "So... now what?"

Silence. After a few minutes, Carol spoke up.

"Well, we could talk about school," she said, smiling. "For example, I think that Haly-Waly is finally going to unblock-"

"NO," The rest said in unison. Carol's smile dropped to a frown, sinking back into her cushion.

Pam looked at her potted plant. "Can you believe them, Phil?" The plant rustled, causing her frown to grow more pronounced. "I know. They're unbearable sometimes." The plant rustled again. "Well, you're the one telling me to make human friends."

Selina glared at her. "Me? Unbearable? I was the only one who-"

Doris stood up from Selina's bed. "Forget this, I'm ordering some pizza." She pulled out her phone. "Do you want any?"

Everyone except Carol nodded. "None for me," the cheerleader said. She looked around impatiently. "Seriously guys, what are we doing today?"

Leslie stood up. "Rob a bank?

Selina shook her head. "Afraid not. They've really started to beef up security."

Leslie scoffed. "Come on, I can zap right in there and-"

Carol held up her hand. "I thought you couldn't take stuff with you when you move via electricity."

Leslie frowned, sitting back down again. Selina sighed, looking out the window. Honestly, she wanted to do something like rob a bank as well. There was some killer jewellery at the mall and while she could just steal it, the mall had also beefed up security after that whole Cheetah incident. Selina smirked a little upon remembering how she tricked that thing.

But, since the security was amped up in the mall, she wouldn't be able to steal it so easily. The best idea was to rob a bank to get the money for the jewellery, but that was obviously a no-go. So, it looked like today was a 'do nothing' kind of day. Which, to be brutally honest, was the worst kind of day.

That's when she heard something. Some kind of... sucking noise. It was weird. At first, Selina thought it was just her imagination, but then she saw her friends looking around, confused. Evidently, they had heard it too.

"What's that weird noise?" Carol asked.

Selina muttered "No idea," to herself more than anything as the sucking sound grew louder. She walked up to her bedroom window, where the sound was at its strongest. A few ideas of what it was began to race through her mind, with the primary one being that it was Starro. She prayed she was wrong.

Then a suction cup hit the window.

Selina jumped back, hissing a little. At the very least, it wasn't Starro. Unless Starro had started to use suction cups, which wasn't extremely likely. Soon, another suction cup appeared on the window. Followed by a pair of blonde ponytails with blue and red streaks at the end up them. Soon, a full head come to view.

"Harleen?"

Yep, it was her alright. Same blue eyes, same wide smile, and the same energetic expression plastered on her face. Harleen tapped on the window. "Let me in!"

Selina shook her head and opened the window. With that, Harleen quickly leaped into the room, landing perfectly on her feet. "Hey, guys! Hope ya didn't have too much fun without me! I tried ringing the doorbell, but no one came. So, I improvised!"

Selina heard Pam groan. "Oh God, not her..." She said, burying her head into her hands. That wasn't a surprise. Pam had always hated Harleen. If you had to ask her, she'd probably just answer with a grunt, but the rest knew it was just because she found Harleen to be one of the most annoying people in her life. Impressive, considering she was in the same school as Jessica 'No-sense-of-personal-space' Cruz.

Harleen barely registered Pam as she pulled Selina into a hug. "My babies aren't dead, before ya ask!"

Selina groaned. "Harleen?"

"Yeah?"

"You're crushing my spine."

Harleen awkwardly released her grip. "Oops, sorry," she giggled. She looked at the rest, causing her to frown. "Why the long faces, girls?"

Carol rolled her eyes. "We all have nothing to do. No crimes to pull, no games to play, no chances to get back together with your one true love after he unfairly blocked you for no reason..."

Doris covered Carol's mouth, unable to handle her talking about Hal Jordan for a second more. "We're all bored. There, you happy?"

Harleen's frown grew wider. "Seriously? There's nothing you wanna do?"

Leslie sunk into her bean bag. "Nope."

Harleen sighed. "Well actually, I can kinda buy that. Life's been pretty boring for me, too. Babsie-Wabsie out visiting her granny-ma, my babies have to stay in the vet for two flippin' weeks... Santy didn't even get me what I wanted for Christmas!" She threw herself onto Selina's bed. "Considering the fact that it's Christmas break, I expected for us to find more stuff to do."

Selina sighed as well. "Me too." She sat down next to her blonde friend. "Have you thought of anything to do?"

Harleen just moaned in response.

"Good to know."

For the next five minutes, the girls had just sat around doing nothing. The only sound aside from the clock slowly ticking was Leslie clicking her tongue. At one point, Harleen tried to make small talk, but apparently no one wanted to answer the question of 'What Would Be The Best Insect To Shove Up Some Guy's Ass?'. Eventually, Carol walked up to the TV, plugged it back in, and grabbed the remote.

"Maybe there's something good on TV," she mumbled, starting to flick through the channels. After a while, she stopped on one channel. The movie playing was a brightly-coloured, schmaltzy-looking shot of a family in a minivan. They were singing some upbeat pop song while they passed by some locations. It looked like something you put on for three-year-olds when they were finished watching Peppa Pig.

None of them looked happy to see it. Hell, Doris looked almost repulsed. Except, strangely enough, Harleen. She was staring at the screen, scratching her chin. She looked deep in thought. Then, just as Carol was going to turn the TV off, Harleen smiled and snapped her fingers.

"That's it!"

"What's it?" Leslie asked, turning to Harleen.

Harleen grabbed her by the face. "I know what we can do!" She let go, placing her hands on her hips. "We go on a road trip!"

The group stared at her, quiet for a moment. Then Selina spoke up.

"A road trip?" She asked. "Elaborate."

Harleen smirked. "Sure thing, Kitty. We can go on a road trip across the country! Ya know, see giant landmarks, take photos, steal from celebrities..."

Pam stood up. "Well, I'll admit, that isn't a half-bad idea." The she frowned. "But... what about our parents?"

Doris smirked. "My nerd parents are out for some science thing for the week, and they left me some old lady. She falls asleep all the time, so it won't be hard to ditch her."

Leslie laughed. "I can probably trick my parents into thinking I'm going on some school trip. I already have the faked permission slips."

Harleen grinned. "Badass! Hell, you can probably use them permission slips for me, Pam, Carol, and Selina too!"

Selina smiled widely. "Well, that works out splendidly. I always have wanted to go on a road trip."

Carol nodded. "Yeah, me too!"

Even Pam grinned. "I suppose we could have some actual fun. I mean, what could go wrong?"

Harleen looked like she was about to explode with joy. "Then it's settled! We leave... immediately!" With that, she walked away, whistling.

"But what about the planning?" Selina called out.

"And the pizza!" Doris added.

Harleen walked back in, still keeping her grin.

"We leave... in five hours... Also, I want olives on my pizza."

FOUR MONTHS AGO...

"So, what do you think?"

Frederick was nervous. Life hadn't been good for him recently. First, his wife had left him because he wasn't about to support her or their family. Then, his son had to leave home, and he wasn't sure when he'd see him again. Then, people stopped coming to his hotel. He had nothing. And so, he had no choice but to sell it.

It pained him to do so. He loved his hotel. Hell, after he was left alone, it was all he had left. He really liked providing a place to stay and entertainment for all the adults and kids who visited there. It honestly warmed his heart to see people enjoy themselves. To say nothing about the small fairground that was right behind the hotel. Though, to be fair, that fairground was probably why he had to sell the place. He had gone over-budget with that thing, and the guy buying it from him would probably have to scrap it.

Though, maybe one of the reasons why he was so nervous was because of who was buying it from him.

Edward Nygma stared at the hotel, squinting his eyes. It looked as though he was examining every nook and cranny of the hotel's exterior. Eventually, he spoke.

"Well, the paint is peeling off the exterior like a mouldy old banana, the place smells like my old socks, and the fairground behind the hotel looks like it was put together by an incredibly stupid child."

Frederick's face fell. "Oh..." He looked down at his feet. "So... you're not going to buy it?"

To this, Edward spun around. Surprisingly, Edward was grinning. "'Not buy it'? What makes you think that?"

Frederick's eyes widened. "Wait... you will buy it?" He asked, a smile appearing on his face.

"Of course!" Edward laughed. He walked up to Frederick, slinging an arm around him. "You see, this hotel is like a run-down, crappy mall. It needs to be refurbished. Rejuvenated. Restored to its natural beauty." His smile grew wider. "And it will take a genius to run this place and... well, you're about as smart as a baby."

Frederick's smile shrunk a little. "Well, I'd say I'm fairly smart. I mean, I got a '111' on my IQ test."

Edward sneered. "Small potatoes compared to me, I must admit."

You're awfully rude for a reformed villain, Frederick thought, but he didn't say anything. He didn't want to accidentally piss off this guy and lose his only potential buyer. He pulled out his calculator. "Well, Mr Nygma, the price for this place is..."

Edward's smile faded. "Price?"

Frederick just rolled his eyes. "As in, the price that you need to pay for this place."

Edward frowned for a second, before chuckling. "Ah yes, silly old me." His smile grew wider as he reached into his pocket. "I mean, I have just gotten millions from that mining expedition I was in. But... before I pay you, can I ask you something?"

This caused Frederick to raise an eyebrow. "A question?" He shrugged. "Sure, what is it?"

Edward turned back to him, his hand still in his pocket. "Riddle me this... who has a lot of money in their bank account, or a throat that hasn't been sliced open."

Frederick froze. "What? I thought part of your whole 'rebrand the Riddler and make him a kid-friendly TV personality' thing was to stay away from riddles like-"

Before he could even finish his sentence, he saw Edward pull out a knife. Before he could do anything, he felt a sharp pain across his throat. He soon fell to the ground, gagging and choking. He placed a hand onto his throat, raising it up to his face once it felt something warm.

His palm was red.

He looked up at Edward, who was smiling down at him. But it wasn't a pleasant smile, not at all. It was a smile that showed off pure sadism. Edward laughed, leaning in closer to Frederick.

"Not you, Mr. Frederick. And thanks for the hotel."

That was the last thing Frederick heard before everything went dark.

Nothing like Not-Mario Party, Suction Cup Woman, a reference to Flushed Away, and a homicidal madman to start off this epic tale. Yeah, as you can see, I'm not even trying to hide how evil Riddler is.

Also, since this is part of the AU established in The Bat, The Crane, And The Crow, there are some differences. For example, I'm sure Riddler's different to what he will be on the show. I've actually based him off his Arkham City incarnation, down to his costume choice.

But why did he buy the hotel? What's his endgame? Where does Barbi fall into this?

Well, there's only one way to find out... And that's to wait for me to upload more chapters, I guess.

Please rate and review if you feel like it and I'll see you soon (sometime this lifetime is soon, right?).