AN: Um... Do I have to do an apology song and dance?

I'm so sorry that I haven't updated in over eight months. Exams and school had me busy. Hopefully, the following chapters will be uploaded at a quicker pace.

It may have felt weird to say/think, but to be honest, Harleen had a bit of a buzz of excitement as the elevator slowly descended.

Sure, she was still pretty nervous about whatever else the Riddler had cooked up, but, after the first trial at least, she had gotten a lot more confident. After all, they were able to get past the first trial without any casualties. Why would the others be any different?

And besides, they were the Super Villain Girls. They've dealt with threats far bigger than whatever Riddler could dish out. They fought the Super Hero Girls every week, for crying out loud. Did Riddler have powers? Could Riddler shoot lasers out of his eyes? Nope!

Well, unless he had been dipped in some weird radioactive waste.

Either way, Harleen wasn't afraid of what was to come next. OK, maybe a little. But not terrified. And that's all that mattered.

After around a minute, the elevator's doors opened with a loud woosh sound, snapping Harleen out of her trance. Before she could even take a single step, she felt herself getting shoved forward by the others. They were murmuring to each other, quiet enough so that Harleen couldn't actually hear them. Whatever they were talking about, Harleen didn't know. All she knew was that she didn't like being literally shoved around.

She quickly planted her feet onto the ground, causing the rest to bump into her. "Hey!" She heard Leslie groan. "Why'd you stop?"

Harleen turned around to face her. "Quit shovin'." With that, she turned back around to get a good look at the room. Unfortunately, it was dark. Very dark. Whatever lay ahead of them, it wasn't visible.

"Um..." She heard Carol whisper. "Did someone cut the electricity?"

Just as she finished her sentence, a loud whirring noise filled the air. As it grew louder, the room slowly became brighter and brighter. Soon enough, the entire room was exposed. Harleen stared ahead. The room was big. Probably bigger than any other room in the hotel except for the lobby. In front of them was some kind of disco floor-like thing. The panels periodically flashed green, white, and yellow, while also sparking with electricity. Looking up, Harleen noticed three cages suspended in the air by chains, with each one holding a some kind of mechanical trinket that was lit up with a green question mark.

Harleen looked back at the ground, raising an eyebrow. "What is this? Do we gotta dance?" She smiled. Now that would be a fun trial.

"Hate to burst your bubble, Bubblehead," the voice of the Riddler called out. "This isn't a dance floor. Disco has been dead for longer than my girlfriend. Well, more like the girl who... Sorry, I'm getting side-tracked."

Harleen heard Barbi scoff. "Get on with it."

"Ah, yes!" Riddler said. "The trial. This is the Electric Floor."

Pam rolled her eyes. "Nice name."

"Shut up, Greenie," Riddler spat. "Anyway, this trial will be difficult. Well, for people with IQs in the 50-55 range. Like you kids. You see those cages? They contain they patented Riddler Trophies. Underneath each one a little contraption I cooked up. You'll all need to work together to aim and fire an arrow into a specific hole in the cages for the Riddler Trophy to be dropped down to you. Do this for each cage and you win."

Harleen folded her arms, smirking. "Seems pretty easy. But, what's that gotta do with electricity?"

Riddler laughed. "Are you blind or stupid? The tiled floor in front of you provides some nasty electric shocks. White is safe, yellow is caution, and green is when a shock is administered. The speeds of the colour changes will alternate. You know, to keep you on your toes. As well as this, in order to get to certain areas, you must leap over a bunch of electric shocks. The people must alternate because I don't want to make it too easy. Or boring."

Pam stepped forward, standing in front of Harleen. "Are the shocks fatal?" She didn't look too bothered by the idea. She just kept her standard 'please-leave-me-alone-and-shut-up' expression. Harleen's smirk grew wider. Good to know someone else was confident.

"Nope," Riddler responded. "However, there is a time limit. A time limit of five minutes. The electric shocks will constantly stun you. Fail to complete the trial in time, you lose a life. Attempting to get across the room in other ways, like climbing on the walls or using gadgets, will automatically make you lose."

Doris's eyes, previously almost closed, burst open. "A life? What's that supposed to mean?"

Once again, Riddler chuckled, though this laugh seemed a little more awkward. "Well, you see, I kind of wanted to test out more of my trials. And I, uh, can't really do that if you're all... y'know, dead. So, you have a maximum of three lives. Fail three times and, well, you're all dead."

Leslie stepped up to the front, her hands on her hips and a determined look on her face. "Don't get your hopes up, Eddie. We're going to blitz through these trials and fry your ass in no time."

"I'd love to see you try."

With a burst of static, the speaker fell silent. The floor continued to spark as a part of the wall adjacent to the group opened up to reveal a large LED counter. It sparked to life, displaying a time limit.

Harleen quickly straightened up. Alright, it was time to get serious. "C'mon guys! Let's do this thing and get out of here."

Selina walked up in front of her, putting her phone away. "Of course. I'll lead the way." With that, she stepped onto one of the tiles just as turned white. She turned to the rest. "Well, come on!"

Harleen quickly skipped up to Selina, with the rest of them coming with. Thankfully, the tiles were big enough for all of them to fit on. Well, barely.

They heard Barbi grunt. "This is uncomfortable."

Carol twisted her head to face Barbi. "Yeah, and you what else is? Dying! And I don't want to die!"

Harleen heard Selina groan. "Girls, enough of this. If we keep fighting, or being scared, we won't be able to work together. We'll be letting that maniac get closer to killing us." She glowered at them all. "So, keep calm. We'll get through this. We're all strong."

Doris smirked. "Yeah. We aren't cowards. We're the Super Villain Girls! We got this."

Harleen smirked. "We all good?"

"Yeah."

"Then let's get this show on the road."

With that, they all turned to one of the contraptions under a cage. The panels continued to flash from white to yellow to green, electricity sparking periodically.

"Alright," came Selina's voice. "What I think we should do is-"

Before she could finish, Harleen felt someone pushing past them all. It was Leslie, who looked smug. "Allow me to go first." Without another word, she stepped forward onto the next panel, just as it flashed green.

Predictably, she received a jolt of electricity. She jumped back, falling backwards onto her ass. "Ow!" She groaned, nursing her head. "That hurt like a bitch! Is that how it feels to others?"

Pam groaned as she picked Leslie up. "What the hell were you doing exactly?"

Leslie rolled her eyes. "I thought I'd be able to take the electricity. You know, because I'm-"

"You do remember about your bracelet, lightning bug?" Came Riddler's voice.

Leslie's eyes widened as she folded her arms, looking a little embarrassed. "Oh. Yeah."

Riddler chuckled. "My guess is that the electricity doesn't flow much to the brain. Or maybe it does and it's fried it."

Leslie's frown widened as her cheeks turned red. "Laugh it up while you can, leprechaun. Stupid, self-righteous..."

Selina groaned as she walked into all their view. "As I was saying, I think we should observe the patterns. Wait until we actually learn when the electricity will go off. Then we can make a break for it." She smirked. "Got it?"

The rest of the girls nodded. Selina's smirk broke into a smile.

"Then let's do it."

The girls stared at the panels. White, yellow, green. Each one switched around every 2.5 seconds and whenever there was a white tile, the one just behind it was yellow, then green, then repeat.

Selina clicked her tongue. "Alright, girls. Here's the game plan. We all stick together. Go one tile at a time. Stay on one tile, alright?"

"Alright."

With that, the tile in front of them turned white. Quickly, the girls moved to it. A few seconds passed, then the next tile went from green to white. They quickly jumped onto that one. They repeated the process until they had gotten to the tiles below the cage. The 'contraption' was a tetrahedral mechanical device with three holes on different sides. A single arrow was inserted into the cannon like thing on top of the device.

"What the heck is this?" Doris asked, walking up to it. She slid her hands into a hole. The light above it lit up. "Hey, there's some kinda controller thing in this thing!"

Harleen raised an eyebrow. "Huh," she mumbled, walking over to another hole. Sliding her hands into it, she felt two levers. She was able to jolt them around. Plus, there were two buttons on the top of levers.

Suddenly, the cannon's top opened up as the arrow was raised up, moving away from the cage. Harleen looked over at Selina, who had joined in. Harleen jolted the controller, causing the arrow to stop.

"Hey!" She said. "Maybe we need ta work together to aim this arrow so that it hits the cage!"

Selina stared at her. "Never would of guessed, darling." She pulled on her levers, causing the arrow to slowly move in a south-eastern direction. Doris quickly jolted her controller, making the arrow move to the centre. Harleen then pulled her one, making the arrow stop right under the cage. She looked at the others.

"Uh, now what?" Doris asked. The rest of the girls just kind of looked around them. Harleen felt the controller as she chewed her lip.

Hey, wait a sec...

"The buttons on these controllers must fire the arrow!" Harleen smiled. The other two looked at her.

"What buttons?" Selina asked.

"They're on the levers' tips. Press 'em!"

The other two shrugged as Harleen pressed the buttons. Selina and Doris evidently did the same, as the arrow shot up and lodged itself in a hole at the bottom of the cage. It opened as a Riddler Trophy fell to the ground, being caught by Carol.

"Yeah!" Carol said, jumping up. "One down, two to go."

"Don't get your hopes up, kid," came the arrogance-laden voice of Riddler. "You've still two more to go. And the clock's tick-tick-ticking..." He chuckled before the speaker shut off.

Barbi folded her arms. "When I get my hands on that madman..."

Selina rolled her eyes. "Barbi, focus. We can talk about castrating the bastard later."

"I heard that!" Riddler snapped. "Keep in mind that I hear everything! So... if you have nothing nice to say... Zip!"

Harleen groaned. And she thought Selina could be a buzzkill. With that 'conversation' over with, they all turned to the next cage. The floor continued to spark with electricity, but now the times they changed colours were different. They changed at a quicker pace, and occasionally they would skip the yellow colour.

Barbi stepped up to the front. "Let me see here..." She stared at the flashing panels, taking in the pattern, whatever it was. Harleen actually had faith in her. After the last trial, she knew that she wasn't willing to let them all die. She was willing to put her trust in her.

After a bit, Barbi clicked her fingers. "They switch every 1.5 seconds, and they skip the yellow 'danger' setting every third time." She looked back at them. "So, we all ready?"

Carol smirked. "Of course! Can we get on with it?"

"Gladly."

With that, they started to move through the path. The panels, thanks to them switching faster, nearly got them a few times. Thankfully, they were all athletic enough to dodge them. Selina practically danced past them, Carol jumped over the sparks, and Harleen leaped from panel to panel.

Soon enough, they had made it to the next arrow shooter thing. This time, Pam, Leslie, and Carol walked over to the machine and started fiddling with it. Harleen looked at Selina, who slid her phone into her pocket before folding her arms, looking at the sparks.

"Say, Selina..."

Selina raised her head. "What?"

"Are you scared?"

For a split second, Selina's eyes widened. But her face soon returned to her usual smarmy expression as she scoffed. "Why would I be afraid? The Riddler is a manchild. I'm not scared of him. Or these traps."

Harleen studied her. "Are you sure?"

"I'm sure, Harleen."

Harleen squinted. After her study in psychology, she had learned how to read people's faces. And right now, she could see that Selina was trying to hide something. Her eyes were darting back and forth, she was rubbing her arm, and her mouth was curled into a small frown.

"Selina, if you need to ta-"

"I'm fine, Harleen," Selina hissed, getting up in Harleen's face. Her voice was filled with venom, and her eyebrows were arched down. "So please... keep your nose out of my business and-"

"Got it," came Leslie's voice. She held the Riddler Trophy above her head, smirking. Almost instantly, Selina's face became one of happiness.

"Nice," she said.

"Two out of three ain't bad, as they say," Riddler said. "However, there's only one minute remaining."

The timer! Harleen looked at it. Yep, it now read 1:00. How had she forgotten about it? The panels once again changed patterns, but this time, the switches were practically done in the space of time one needed to blink.

"Oh ho ho! Looks like things are heating up!" Riddler laughed. "Can you make it in time? Tick-tick-tick. Is the timer going faster or are you just going mad? Tick-tick-tick!" He cackled. "Better run!"

The girls didn't say anything, either to each other or to the madman talking through the speaker. They all looked to the last cage, the panels leading to it going from white to yellow to green so quickly it was practically epileptic. They didn't even move, it was that 'entrancing' for want of a better word.

Well, until Barbi ran forward and screamed.

"What are you idiots waiting for? RUN!"

They didn't need to be told twice. They ran forward as if Darkseid himself was after them. Harleen watched as Barbi narrowly avoided the green panels by mere millimetres. She looked at the rest of her friends, who looked about as scared as she felt.

Come on Harleen, she thought. Eyes on the prize! Don't let yourself be distracted! You gotta-

Suddenly, right when most of them had gotten onto the panel, Pam tripped over herself. She stumbled a bit before starting to fall forward... onto a sparking green panel.

"NO!"

With all the force she could muster, Harleen shoved Pam forward. She watched as she planted face-first into the safe panels under the cage. Harleen didn't even have enough time to register her action before she felt what felt like a million volts of electricity course through her body. She screamed as she writhed around. Jesus, and she thought Leslie's pranks were bad. This hurt even more. Her entire body felt like it was about to explode into bits as she screamed. It was so painful, so hot. Is this what it felt like to be burned alive?

Suddenly... it stopped. She writhed around a bit more before she stopped, breathing heavily. Looking up she saw that Barbi was holding the Riddler Trophy in her hands, laughing.

"Too easy," she sneered. When she spotted Harleen, her eyes widened. "Holy hell!" She ran up to her, followed by the rest of the girls. "Are you..."

"Yeah, yeah I'm fine," Harleen said, hissing from the pain. Thankfully, the pain was starting to leave her system, but she still involuntarily twitched a few times.

"Good," Doris said. She frowned. "Sorry we didn't notice. We were so focused on the cage and-"

Harleen held up a hand. "It's fine, really."

"A sacrifice for your friend." Riddler sounded bored. "How noble. Nevertheless, the games have just begun. Next trial, you might not be so lucky. Enter the elevator."

The rest of the panels switched back to white as the LED timer was frozen on 0:05. They had won again. Most of the girls cheered and walked over to the elevator that had revealed itself.

Well, all but two. Harleen just continued rubbing her arms as she slowly felt the burning sensation fade. Pam looked up at her.

"What were you thinking?" Pam asked. She didn't sound offended, angry, or sad. Just... confused. Thankful, but confused.

Harleen smiled, in spite of the pain. "We're friends, Pammy. You woulda done the same for me, right?"

Pam blinked, holding Phil close to her chest. "I... Um..." After a few seconds, she groaned. "Whatever, let's just join the others." She stormed off, with Harleen slowly following her. As they got into the elevator, Harleen felt her confidence increase more. At this point, she felt invincible. She just hoped that the other trials were as easy.

...And that Pam appreciated the gesture.

It's good to be back.

Again, I'm so sorry for the large break. I hope that the future chapters will come out faster, with less large breaks. Honestly, I'm just looking forward to getting to Chapter 11. That's when things get good.