Chapter 5 five 5! *sings* Yay!
Oh and i forgot. Disclamers: I do not own Batman or any of his villains. Emmy, Haley, Chanel, Ever and Jack are all at least half mine!
Chapter 5
The Joker dropped each pair of mentor and trainee off at each rouges lair. The Riddler was currently leading a curious but cautious Haley up to the door of an old basement apartment. He entered a series of combinations into a lock before opening the door. "After you." Be beckoned for her to enter. She carefully stepped inside.
"So, this is your place?" She asked awkwardly as she examined his living conditions.
The main room was neat and organized with a small couch, a chair, and a TV. To the right of that was a small kitchen table with the morning's news paper on it opened up to the puzzle section. There was a counter separating the eating table from the kitchen which was small.
"Yes it is, well one of many, but this one is what I use the most."
"Homey." She played with her fingers a bit before slowly sitting down on the couch. The material made a funny sinking noise under her weight. "So… um… is this for real?"
The Riddler smirked to himself at the honest confusion in the girls eyes. "At the moment, yes, this is for real. I will have to test you though, to see if you're worthy to be the apprentice of the Riddler." Her amber eyes lit up at the sound of a challenge.
"Alright, try me, but please take into consideration that I am only in the tenth grade." Ah, so she held pride in her intellect but wasn't arrogant enough to overestimate herself. She was well aware of her limitations. That would be useful.
"Good. I have six faces - but are nose and mouth free, I have 21 eyes - but still cannot see. What am I?" He asked.
The girl put a hand through her red hair and combed it while she though. "Hmmm, well nothing alive has six faces... a cube? But cubes don't have 21 eyes, now do they? A dice?"
"Is that a question or an answer?" He twirled his bowler hat on his fingers.
"An answer."
"Correct. Here." He tossed her a puzzle book. "Pick one and finish it."
"Sudoku!" She exclaimed. "I am amazing at these!" She picked up the puzzle and enthusiastically went to work while he started a timer. She filled in numbers and stuck the tip of her tongue out of the corner of her mouth. She flipped her pencil around and erased something and quickly filled in a new number. "Done!" She called. He checked her time. Five minutes, not bad... but did she do it accurately? He took the puzzle from her and started to grin as he checked it over.
"Wonderful." She smiled at him weakly.
"Um, Mr. Riddler?" She visibly crinkled her nose at how off her calling him that sounded. "Sir?" She tested. "Yuck." She said under her breath. He chuckled softly.
"Child, we are not working so you may call me Edward."
"Ok, um... Edward. Can I be honest with you?" She was playing with her fingers again. What happened to the girl who he saw tackle somebody in the middle of class?
That girl is sitting in front of a super criminal. He thought to himself. Obviously she's uncomfortable.
"I don't see why not."
"Well is this whole, apprentice thing a good idea? I mean, I was gonna go to college, get a job or something, I don't know. I honestly can't see much of a future in criminal activity." She put her head down as if waiting to be scolded. He had expected her, being as rational and smart as she seemed, to question him. It was only natural.
"I took the liberty of going through your records while I was at Gotham general today. You were born to be a criminal. And, if all else fails, you can always play it off like you had no say in your actions."
"You mean that you would just let me go?" She looked honestly surprised.
"Well I'm not going to keep you here against your will. What use would an unwilling student be?" He scoffed. "But I urge you to consider my offer. Your mind is too intelligent to be waited in today's dim-witted society."
She furrowed her eyebrows while she thought about his offer. It was a very tempting offer. To be asked to work with the Riddler because of your intellectual level was extremely flattering. She couldn't help but want to say yes. "I guess I could give it a try." Before long she found herself grinning with him.
"Now that's the spirit. You will need a name... Quiz and Query are out because those are henchgirl names." He pondered out loud as he turned to face her. He stared at her with his deep green eyes. Determination crossed his entire person. "How about I.Q?" He snapped his fingers.
"I.Q sounds nice." She smiled brightly.
"I.Q it is!" He got up to walk into the kitchen to poor some coffee. "You will need a costume, but I could probably fix one up for you. Coffee?" He offered.
"No thanks." She politely declined. "Costume?" She then asked. "I didn't know I got to play dress up with the big kids, too!" She said sarcastically. "Can I trust you to pick out decent woman's clothes? Maybe I should come with you?"
"Harley actually insisted to help Jonathan, Jarvis, and I pick out costumes. The real question should be; can you trust her?" He laughed and heard her giggle in return.
"Well as much fun as it's been, I should go home before my father assumes I've been raped or something." Then she paused. "I do get to go home when I'm not working right?"
"Yes, I am not going to keep you locked up here all hours of the day. You will still be attending school and will be going home. I will need your cell phone number, since it was the only one the school system couldn't provide." She wrote it down for him on a piece of paper. "I'll drive you home. This isn't exactly Gotham's safest neighbourhood, but really are there any?"
"No I don't think there are." She smiled "And you can never be too careful with so many rouges on the loose at the same time."
"Right you are, Haley, right you are."
Emmy sat at a chair at the end of a long dining table, well; it was considerably large for the house. She was currently sitting in at the Mad Hatter's tea party, inside of his hide-out. Everything was painted obnoxiously bright colors and furnished with distorted chairs and tables. Something's were too big, others were too small, some had characters painted on them. There was a large book shelf filled with various copies of Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking glass, along with other Alice and Wonderland themed books. In a little basket at the center of the table there were small cookies that all said 'EAT ME'.
It was absolutely wonderful. She felt right at home with the disorienting bright colors and all the insanity that made up Wonderland. She smiled as Jarvis Tech re-entered the room with a pot of tea. He poured her some and sat at the other end of the table. She eyed it cautiously before looking up at her new mentor. His bright smile wavered when he saw her not take the tea.
"Do you not like tea?" He asked with a flabbergasted look. How could somebody not like tea? In the Hatter's eyes, that was a crime.
"Oh, no, no! I love tea, but… it's late. Mom tells me I'm not suppose to drink tea after dark. It makes me hyper, and then I can't sleep." She looked down in shame.
"Nonsense! Drink the tea." He ordered. She shrugged her shoulders and her curls bounced a bit before taking a sip. "So tell be something about yourself, anything, or better yet: Start at the beginning, and when you reach the end… Stop."
"Well… my name is Emmy, or Emily, and Chanel seems to like calling me Ems. I got a mamma, and a papa, but they never got married and I see them on alternating weekends… usually. I, um… like to write, and draw, and do anything that expresses how I feel or think, which usually creeps people out. Oh! And five out of four students agree; I'm certifiably insane!" She smiled proudly.
"Good, good!" He clapped. "Now, we will need to call you something. Alice?" He asked. She scrunched up her nose and shook her head violently, her hair tossed wildly about.
"No, it's to unoriginal for somebody who would work with you, and plus, what would happen if you met a lovely lady who wanted to help you and I already took the name Alice?" She explained with animated arm motions. "No, Alice would simply not due at all!"
He examined her small figure. The way she moved around with so much energy reminded him of a bunny, a rabbit… The White Rabbit! Yes that was the name for her.
"Then we shall call you the White Rabbit."She smiled brightly with all of her teeth showing at this, her blue eyes sparkled with interest.
"People can call me Bunny! Oh I love it!" She squealed. "But I should go. I don't want to give my mother a heart attack by not coming home."
"Alright, alright, now be on the lookout because either I or another rouge will be in contact with you."
"Will do, um, can I call you Jarvis? Or Hatty? Or should I call you Mr. Hatter…"
"Jarvis is fine."
"Oh we are going to have so much fun!" She squeaked as she walked out the door.
"Yes we are." He said to himself. The Joker had really outdone himself this time, who ever knew that copying Batman could be such a good idea?
Jack's eyes darted through out the room, a nervous grin spread across his peachy face. If he had been the least right-minded he'd be shaking violently, maybe even crying. At least he had the sense to be afraid, because the man before him with his white face and red painted lips and jelled green hair was Satan in the human image. Joker sat across Jack, one leg resting on his knee and fingers laced together.
"So, Jacky, tell me about yourself, son." He said with a smile and Jack gulped.
"Uh, I'm an only child, junior, no plans for college or a career in mind. And…" he paused. "My mothers…a drug addict." Jack finished with a cheesy smile. The Joker rubbed his chin, taking in Jack's basic back round story.
"Spiffy life you got there. I can tell you that at least one of those things will change today." Jack raised an eyebrow and his mentor went on. "From today forward you're my kid. Your career is currently doing whatever I say and learning a couple neat things in the after math. Got it?"
Jack nodded; did he even have a choice? "Mooooooving on, what motivates you to do your pranks, sonny-boy?" Jack's lips twisted a bit.
"Nothing, really…it's just fun…" that was the best way to describe his urges to prank others. It was just unexplainable fun. Mrs. Maple almost calling the ambulance when he told her he had poisoned the water fountains when it was really just grape Kool-Aid. Pulling the fire alarm and convincing Mr. Roberts that the furnace had gone out of control, making everyone have to go out in the rain. And especially when he dressed up as a maniac with a plastic, yet insanely realistic chainsaw and chased the slutty cheer squad in the gym, earning him the nickname of Jack the Ripper his freshmen year. Yes pranks were oodles of malicious fun.
"Hmm…good enough. Now you shall have even more fun. Tomorrow, here, after school, 3pm sharp, if not well…you'll be brutalized. Got it?" Joker's face was serious and something about his face made Jack's mind think of the killer clown from that movie IT by Stephen King. It had given him the idea that a smile could make everything look better, even a psycho circus-themed carnivore. For the first time it didn't work, at least not on this man's face. He turned wanting to get out of the madman's house as soon as possible. "Last question, before you leave." Jack stopped and glanced fearfully over his shoulder. "Can you handle a punch?"
"Yes." There was no hesitation with this answer. He'd had to take 'em for a majority of his life. He could take them without a word or flinch. He'd only smile, grin and bare it. It was the thing he was best at.
Joker's smile grew wider and he turned going to the staircase that led upstairs. "Good." He waved his hand at the teen who blinked confused. "You may go." With that, Jack turned and literally bolted out the door. Joker snickered. This ought'a be interesting…
So did you like it? The rest of the kiddies will have their turn in the next chapter. I've been updating more slowly because both quegal and i have had our minds on other things like other projects, school, and such. Hope it was worth it. Let me know what you think! R&R