Elizabeth watched as the Joker was escorted down the hallway and she only moved once the door was shut behind him. She was glad the Scarecrow was too drugged up to see her reaction to the Joker being let out of his cell. He would mock her if he knew her bravado didn't extend to when the Rogues were out and about, especially the Joker. Her eyes flickered to the only conscious patient left, The Riddler, Edward Nygma, Prince of Puzzles. His eyes were shadowed by his long hair but she could still feel his piercing gaze. He was calculating her every move. She took a calming breath and reached for her tape measurer but before she touched it there was a loud explosion accompanied by wailing sirens. She dropped her clip board and covered her ears but it gave little protection to her sensitive hearing. Her face was screwed up in pain it felt like her head was splitting in two.
"…plugs…desk…" The voice drifted to her through the pain. Elizabeth glanced over to the Riddler who was pointing to the desk drawer while popping in his own pair of earplugs. She scrambled over to the Joker's desk, inside next to the crayons were a pair of earplugs in a small plastic bags. As quickly as she could she popped in the protection and was blessed with half the noise as before. Hands shaking slightly Elizabeth picked up her clipboard and unclipped her tape measurer. She tried to work with the sirens running but after several more explosions made her jump and drop her work she decided to quit and wait out whatever was happening outside.
Suddenly the sirens stopped and an eerie silence fell over the cells. Hesitantly looking around Elizabeth slowly took out her ear plugs half expecting the wailing to begin again as soon as she removed them. She glanced over at The Riddler who was taking out his earplugs as well.
"Thank you for telling me where the earplugs were." The inmate looked up at her slightly shocked; it had been such a long time since someone had thanked him for something he had nearly forgotten what it sounded like.
"…no problem. Those sirens are killer on the ears." He smiled his confidence coming back in full measure. Elizabeth's pager buzzed and she looked down at it. 'JK HQ BO' flashed across the screen. She mumbled it under her breath and The Riddler cocked an eyebrow.
"What does it say?"
"JK HQ BO."
"Oh, thought so…it means that Harley just helped the Joker breakout."
"Makes sense…" There was a slightly awkward silence with the only sound was the soft banging of guns down and across several floors. Elizabeth picked up her clipboard and took out her measuring tape.
"You're going to work?" The Riddler asked slightly shocked.
"I have nothing else to do; besides I want to finish today as soon as I can."
"We could talk," the Riddler suggested. Elizabeth shrugged as if to say she didn't mind and to go ahead. "Great! It's been a while since I've had someone with a decent amount of intelligence and not an obsession with fear to talk to. So why are in such a rush to finish your work today?"
"Let's see," Elizabeth said with a slightly sarcastic tone, "it might have to do with the fact I am working the Rogue's gallery cells today full well knowing that I'd be alone and have to display my rear end to every criminal to do my job properly. Oh, and the Joker just broke out and now I'm having a conversation with the Riddler."
"Please, call me Edward everyone does, and you are?"
"Miss Howard." Elizabeth made a few more measurements and wrote them down quickly then prepared herself mentally for a probable sexist comment and bent down on her knees to examine the floor.
"Miss? So I take it your single then? I'm surprised no one has snatched a woman like you up already." Her cheeks flared a brilliant red and she paused slightly in her work. After a second she shook her head and continued measuring.
"Yes, I'm single; and what about you? Going out with any of your henchwomen?"
"Query and Echo? No, I haven't seen them in a while now. So why are you single? There must be a plethora of men that find you attractive."
"Too busy. Work, school, and I'm afraid you're mistaken, today is the first I've heard a compliment in a while."
"I can't see why, but I digress. What are you going to school for?"
"My Masters."
"In…?"
"In Chemistry."
"Really? So are you going to work for Wayne Industries or a company of that ilk once you graduate?"
"No," Elizabeth said standing back up and stepping up on the bed to measure the ceiling. "I'm going to work at the criminology lab." A bit of the energy left Edward, he scoffed to himself, 'of course she'd want to fight crime; everyone wanted the criminals out of Gotham.'
"Ah, going to fight crime and help put little ol' me behind bars."
Elizabeth looked at him; he was pouting slightly and looking up at her with her dark green eyes. "Not really, I think your trademark crimes do that without needing fingerprints and DNA. I'm more interested in putting the mob behind bars."
He laughed lightly, "I do suppose my exploits are recognizable…but being an enemy of the mob is dangerous business."
"Nothing is too dangerous if it's personal."
"Touché. Does that "personal" have anything to do with your ears?" She spun around quickly, a little too quickly, her foot got snagged on the bed sheets and she came crashing to the ground face first.
Edward looked at Miss Howard sprawled body; he had heard a nasty snap when she fell and genuinely hoped she hadn't broken her nose. He knew from previous experience with the Batman that a broken nose hurt like a bitch. She groaned and moved slowly into a sitting position. Grabbing her leg she tugged it out of the bedding.
"Owww…"
"Are you okay?"
"Yeah," she looked down trying to gather herself, "damn, my clipboard is broken. Go figure, nearly six years of working and it breaks on my last day." She tucked her hair behind her pointed ears and looked at him, a rather ticked look on her face and one of her eyes gleaming gold.
She blinked several times, "shit," she swore covering her golden eye. Eye back on the ground she scanned for her missing contact.
"So pointed ears and at least one golden eye, you really have sparked my interest now."
"Shut it." Edward was honestly taken aback no one had dared talk to him like that since he took on the Riddler person. There was another loud explosion outside and the gently whirring of the air conditioning stopped.
"Damn," he swore under his breath. When the air conditioning failed at Arkham the Rogue's gallery always heated up the fastest and with the most intensity, in about five minutes the heat would already be up to 76 or above. The criminal looked over at the inspector, still scanning the floor for her contact.
"There you are you little bugger," she said blowing a bit of dust off the lens before popping it back into her eye. Edward looked at her in amusement. Elizabeth curled her lip at him in a half snarl her now two green eyes narrowed slightly.
Edward laughed lightly. "Are you trying to scare me?"
She rolled her eyes and glanced back down at the beeper it was still flashing 'JK HQ BO' and she decided that she better wait to call for Dr. Gullenrow. Unfortunately for her that meant she would have to either ignore the Riddler for however long it took or try and converse with him without telling him more than she wanted him to know.
"Answer my question." Elizabeth smirked inwardly but didn't say anything she merely scooted over to the wall and leaned against it. Edward's eyes narrowed at her nonchalant attitude. 'How dare she ignore me? No one snubs me!'
"Do not ignore me!" Edward nearly shouted. The one thing he could not stand is not getting the attention he "deserved". "Listen to me!"
"…hard not to." The Rogue stared at the woman sitting across from him, who had thrown him completely off guard with her words. "And I wasn't ignoring you I was trying to figure out what I should do."
"Oh? …And?"
"Well, it'd be boring not to talk since I don't know how long I'll be stuck here; though I can be quite content to close my eyes for a bit so I'll only converse if you promise not to mention my ears again…or my eyes."
Edward raised an eyebrow; her ultimatum pleased him slightly, it'd been a long time since anyone had challenged him without using their fists. "Agreed, so riddle me this: Who makes it, has no need of it. Who buys it, has no use for it. Who uses it can neither see nor feel it. What is it?"
Elizabeth frowned slightly thinking the riddle over, "a coffin."
"Correct."
"What was the point of that?"
"To make sure you answering my other riddle was not a fluke, besides I am the Riddler."
"I thought you told me to call you Edward since you weren't in costume."
"I did." There was a short pause where they both stared at each other.
"So…" Elizabeth said shifting uncomfortably in the increasing heat, "what's your favorite colour?"
"Green. And yours?"
'Should've guessed.' "Mine's purple."
"How nice, my second favorite. If we're going down the road of simple questions: what's your favorite animal?"
"I would have to say Dolphins."
"Dolphins? That's cliché, why? Because they're graceful? Elegant?"
"Partially, but also because behind their beauty they are a dangerous predator and most people don't see any danger coming until it's too late."
Edward smiled; this girl was getting more and more interesting by the minute.
"What about you?"
"You said this was your last day. Why are you quitting? Or were you fired?"
"Hey! You didn't answer the question."
"I don't have a favorite animal; I don't really care for the little beasts. Now answer my question."
"…I'm quitting because I'm graduating and I got a job in the Gotham Criminology Lab. What type of music do you like?"
"Classical. So you're following your dreams good for you. I'm sure you'll make a fine edition, maybe they can actually do something if they have someone intelligent working there."
"Did you just complement my intelligence?!" Edward's eyes widened and he blushed slightly. He hadn't meant to complement her, did he? No, of course not, she hadn't even shown him she was that smart just interesting, answering two riddles didn't make a person smart, to do that she'd have to answer more.
"The captain of a ship was telling this interesting story: "We traveled the sea far and wide. At one time, two of my sailors were standing on opposite sides of the ship. One was looking west and the other one east. And at the same time, they could see each other clearly."
How can that be possible?"
"Wha-? Oh I see…" Elizabeth gave a small almost knowing smile and turned her face away to think. She started fanning herself with her hand and undid a couple of buttons on her blouse. "…they are standing on opposite sides of the ship but they are facing each other. Gosh it's getting warm in here." Edward frowned slightly, she was right, again.
"What's your favorite style of music?"
Over a half an hour later they had covered most of the basic questions, though skating over the familial questions. Edward had thrown in several more riddles of which Elizabeth had gotten two wrong. The heat in the cells had reach a toasty 90 degrees or so, which caused Elizabeth the fully removed her blouse and tights leaving her in a very revealing under-tank with her skirt slowly riding up her leg. Unfortunately for Edward couldn't remove anything since he was clothed in just a jumpsuit.
"A Vampire?"
"No…that doesn't even make sense."
"Yeah it does. Pointed fangs, biting, bloodless victims. Sounds like a vampire to me."
Edward sighed and wiped the sweat off his forehead with his sleeve. "Think off everyday items."
"I thought you never give hints, Nygma." They both looked around; standing in the hallway was a large imposing black figure.
"Batman." Edward sneered. Batman didn't acknowledge the criminal, he punched some numbers into the key pad and unlocked Joker's cell.
"Out." Elizabeth scrambled to her feet and left the cell. Batman went inside and started examining the room.
"He didn't know she was coming." Edward said, extreme distaste peppering his voice. The vigilante ignored him again continuing to search the room, Elizabeth and Edward watched him for a couple of minutes.
"Oh!" Elizabeth exclaimed, "is it a stapler?"
"Yes," Edward smiled and looked at the inspector. Small round scars peppered her upper arms and shoulder. 'I wonder if those are part of her "personal" reason.' Close up he admitted she was a tad more attractive than before, even with the scaring, definitely a better site than the Batman. He glanced back over at the caped crusader, Bruce Wayne. Edward scowled at the thought of this knowledge and wondered for a moment if it would be better if he hadn't discovered the man's identity. The door at the end of the hall opened and Dr. Gullenrow rushed in, a large bandage on his head.
"Miss Howard! Are you okay? I'm sorry to have left you here for so long but Harley Quinzell broke the Joker out and well…"
"It's okay Dr. Gullenrow. I'm fine, I just feel like steamed broccoli."
"Oh yes, let's get you out of here."
"Wait," Elizabeth said, "What about him?" She gestured to Edward.
"I'm sure someone else can inspect his cell," Dr. Gullenrow assured trying to usher her along.
"No, I mean, it's rather cruel to leave him here in this heat, I know you can't move the others since they're knocked out but can't you move him to a cooler area?" If Edward was shocked at Elizabeth's behavior before it was nothing like what he was feeling now.
Dr. Gullenrow shifted on his feet trying to make a decision, "Ahh…okay, I guess you're right. Guards!" Two heavy set men came in. "We're going to move Mr. Nygma to the recreation room until the conditioning comes back on." Edward assumed the position without needing to be asked.
As Edward was lead out of the cell he stopped and turned to face Elizabeth. "Thank you, Miss Howard, it was a pleasure." He bowed slightly to her.
"Simply repayment for telling me where the earplugs were, but you're welcome."
"I have one last riddle for you, I am—hey!" Edward struggled slightly with the guards as they dragged him away but gave up quickly because of the heat.
"Miss Howard," Dr. Gullenrow said, panicked, "Did you tell him your name?"
"No, you did."
"Oh."