Authors Note: BrocktreeJustLeft, thank you for reading! And yup. I'm trying to post as often as I can, hopefully at least once every few days (or at least as much as being in high school will allow XP).
Disclaimer: I still own nothing besides Doctor Capuano and her background.
?~?~?~?~?~?~?~?~?~?~?~?~?~?~?~?~?~?~?~?~?~?~?~?~?~?~?~?~?~?~?~?~?~?~?~?It has been said that humans have a sort of biological clock that allows them to have an idea of what time it is, without any sort of clock or view of the sun. Allison knew this was a load of crap, because sitting in the cold, dark room; she could not be sure whether she had been there for hours, or days.
Surely someone will come looking for me… She reassured herself, choking back more tears. Or would they? Allison realized that she didn't have any really close friends in Gotham, outside of various close acquaintances from work. All of her friends from high school and college had moved away, gotten away from Gotham to other parts of the country, and even the world. She had somewhat lost contact, realizing that keeping in touch was almost impossible when they lived in Milan, and San Francisco and Ontario. She thought of Stacy, her best friend since kindergarten, tall, beautiful, off to model for famous designers in Italy. They had made a pact in third grade.
"Whatcha doin'?" Stacey had squeaked, taking a seat next to Allison, who was busy coloring and shading a drawing of a sunflower she had made.
"Just drawing…" Allison had smiled, proud of her work and held it up for her friend to see.
"Woah Ali!" Stacey's eyes widened. "That's really pretty!" She admired the happy yellow sunflower.
"Well I think it sucks!" Billy Borges was the biggest, meanest, and dirtiest kid in the class. He had no problem picking on girls either. Grinning like a madman, he had taken Allison's picture and ripped it in half. Laughing manically at his act, he walked away leaving Allison in tears.
"What a dork!" Stacey had exclaimed, appalled by the disgusting boy. Then she noticed Allison crying. "Ali! Don't listen to him! You're a great drawer!"
"Really?" Allison wiped her nose on her sleeve.
"Really Ali." She said with vigor. "You're going to be a famous artist one day! And dweebs like Billy Borges are going to be paying millions of dollars just to see a picture of your drawings!" She said loud enough or Billy to hear, waving a tiny fist in the air.
"You're right." Allison smiled. "And you're going to be famous fashion designer, making clothes that EVERYONE'S going to want to wear!"
"Exactly!" Stacey giggled. "Promise me?" She held out her pinky, waiting for a sacred pinky promise to be made.
"Of course." Allison grabbed Stacey's pinky with her own, sticking her tongue out at Billy in the process.
But she hadn't gone to art school. She remembered junior year, when her portfolio for RISD was almost completely done, she had looked at her work, and decided that she wasn't good enough. It was difficult, but she had elected to toss her portfolio away, and instead go to medical school. After getting her degree, she had decided to stay in Gotham, realizing that it would have been much too difficult to move and find a job elsewhere. Why hadn't I gotten out of this stupid city when I had the chance? She groaned, starting to regret every decision she'd made in the past 10 years.
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"Hey boss!" One of his henchmen was speaking to him. Good God, what do they want now? I already taught them how to work the microwave. He suddenly remembered the benefit of using henchgirls; they were just as idiotic (perhaps even more so) but at least they were nice to look at.
"Yes?" He replied through a clenched jaw, slowly turning to face his three henchmen.
Two of the men pushed the third foreword, prompting him to speak. "We were just uh… wondering… uh… when we were goin' on another heist?" He said sheepishly.
The Riddler adjusted his hat. A simple lie should suffice. "Do you realize who that is in there?" He gestured to the door leading to Doctor Capuano. "She is the heir to a very extensive Gotham fortune. I've already put out a ransom for her return. All we can do now is wait. Now… leave me be." He shooed the three men, who retreated into another room quickly.
Finally… he rubbed his temples, trying to quell the insistent migraine that had been plaguing him for the past month or so. I can have some peace.
He had elected to keep Doctor Capuano waiting for a few more hours, figuring she would be desperate for any form of escape by the time he returned. Maybe she could figure it out. He was aware that Allison Capuano was not the greatest doctor on earth. However, she was the most isolated, and it would be at least a week before anyone would realize she was missing. Hopefully she'd be able to figure out what was wrong before someone did recognize it.
He closed his eyes again, only to be greeted by the vision of those bright blue eyes again. Why are these so important that I can't even close my eyes without being haunted? Again, blue eyes blinked up at him, glazed with tears this time. Dammit. The Riddler might be considered emotionless, but before he had put on his mask, he had merely been Eddie Nygma, gifted, self-centered, withdrawn, but more or less, just a boy. Who had had a best friend at one point… with the exact same blue and lavender eyes. Aha, a breakthrough… Eddie though grimly to himself, picturing the young blonde girl who had been his best friend up until sixth grade, Adrian Jameson.
"Hey!" Adrian caught up with a seven year old Eddie, on his way to the first day of second grade. "Wait up!" She ran up and cut him off, blocking him from walking any further.
"Yah?" He said, half expecting her to do something cruel, like knock the books out of his hands or spit at him.
"Hold on," She said and began to dig through her bubblegum pink backpack, her entire arm buried in the black hole that was almost every second grader's bag. After much effort, and an eye rolling from Eddie, she extracted a purple envelope from her bag and handed it to him. "Here," she smiled, "Open it!"
Reluctantly, Eddie tore open the envelope, and was left holding a card, with balloons and a tall cake on the front. "What is it?"
"An invitation silly," She playfully hit his shoulder, "to my birthday!" His eyes widened in disbelief. He hadn't ever been invited to a birthday party.
"Thank you," He mumbled, and continued to walk, Adrian followed, walking right at his side.
"I've never had a birthday party before, so I'm really, really excited." She prattled on, waving her arms in the air. "And it's going to be a lot of fun!"
Somehow, Eddie doubted that she was being genuine. She probably just felt obligated to invite everyone in the class. He told himself.
As if she was reading his thought she smiled. "I really want you to be there." Eddie's face lit up.
"Really?"
"Really." She assured him. At that point Eddie knew that this girl was going to be his best friend, as they walked into their first day of second grade together, talking about birthday cakes and party games.
The Riddler groaned. Stupidity is common among children and he was no exception, he reminded himself. Now, he had more pressing matters to attend to, rather than the hopes of a seven year old boy.
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RISD is the Rhode Island School of Design.
Thank you for reading! Reviews are appreciated!