"Pizza!" Elizabeth sang, as she opened her apartment door a large pizza box balanced in on hand.

"Yum," Edward said taking the box from her, "What type?"

"Three-meat."

"Delicious!"

"So what did you do while I was gone?"

"I read some Dawkins, watched some of those BBC documentaries you have."

"Did you hack into my computer?" Edward chuckled guiltily. "Knew it."

"Sorry."

"Don't lie, besides I left it out for you to use." Elizabeth patted him on the chest and retrieved two plates from the cabinet. "I also stopped by Redbox and rented a comedy for us to watch."

"Mmmmm," Edward said through a mouthful of pizza.

"Oi! Wait for me! I paid for it!" Elizabeth snatched the box from his hand and set it on the counter. She pulled two slices of the thick greasy pizza out for herself and put another, plus the half eaten one, on a plate for Edward. Elizabeth popped in the movie and they both sat down on the couch.

About two hours later most of the pizza was gone and Elizabeth had broken out some beer. Edward was picking out another movie; he had picked out another "horror", this time the cult classic "Dracula" with Frank Langella. He put in the movie and sat back on the couch closer to Elizabeth than he was before. Neither one noticed—or at least minded—as they drank and watch the thrilling yet mistake ridden movie. The alcohol had loosened them both up and they were half leaning against one another laughing at the bad special effects. Lucy and Dracula were out on the balcony listening to "the children of the night". Elizabeth shivered slightly.

"Cold?" Edward asked.

"No, no, just the wolves they're…never mind, shh this is my favorite part." Edward quirk an eyebrow but didn't say anything else. The two characters were kissing now and he looked back at Elizabeth. She was staring intently at the screen her lips parted slightly; she wet her lips and bit the bottom one gently. Edward was transfixed. Her golden eyes shinned from the TV's glow and her face was flushed lightly from the alcohol. Unconsciously he leaned forward and the scent of her hair filled his nostrils. It was a woody tangy smell almost like she had used men's shampoo but from Edward search of her bathroom he knew she didn't. Her shampoo and body wash was unscented. This smell was her natural scent.

Elizabeth finally became aware of Edward nearness and turned her head to look at him. Doing so brought their faces close together, their noses almost touching. She breathed in sharply. It was like the world had stopped around them. Edward's breath brushed against Elizabeth's lips and her lips opened a little bit more. They were staring into the other's eyes, their gaze pulling them together ever so slowly.

'She's drunk.' Edward thought as he held Elizabeth's unfocused gaze. The knowledge bothered him slightly, usually he wouldn't care if a partner was sober or not, he'd taken advantage of women in the past but for some reason he couldn't do that to Elizabeth. Regretfully Edward turned away and Elizabeth quickly followed; both acting as though nothing had happened.

Edward and Elizabeth didn't look at each other again until the credits began rolling. Elizabeth stood and stretched yawning loudly.

"I think I'll turn in."

"Already?"

"Yeah, I usually sleep in until eleven or so and you woke me up at eight."

"Oh, well night then."

"Night." Elizabeth stretched again and went into her room. Edward heard the lock slide into place. She had a high learning curve. Rubbing his face Edward tried to shake off some of the fuzziness the beer had caused. It'd been a long time since he drank and he had two whole bottles, of course, that wasn't as much as Elizabeth who had three and a half. He half wondered why she would lower her defenses by drinking with him, he could have done anything to her, did she actually trust him or did she just not care? Knowing her probably both.

Edward stretched and stood picking up the empty bottles he gave them a quick rinse and dumped them in the recycling. He tossed the last two slices of pizza in a Ziploc bag and threw it in the fridge. There were a few spills on the table so Edward grabbed a paper towel and began to clean the up. Suddenly he stopped. 'What the hell am I doing!? Let her clean up the mess, it's not my problem!' Leaving the towel on the table he sat back on the couch and picked up a book flipping to a random page. He sat there staring at the page not taking in anything for about a minute before sighing. Something was compelling him to finish the job and he just couldn't ignore it.

Once he had finished Edward went over to the window and peeked outside. The street was quiet, on the street corner a single man stood smoking. He turned slightly and Edward caught a glimpse of his face. Now Edward never had a thing for the faces of people beneath him but he knew for certain that the man was a thug he hired a few years ago. The man had turned traitor on him to the mob, the Maroni mob to be precise. Edward swore.

There must have been a noise down the alley because the man turned and walked down leaving Edward's range of vision. Less than a minute later he came running back tripping slightly as he came tearing toward the intersection. Edward breathed in sharply when he saw Batman chasing the man. The thug fell in the street and Batman dragged him to his feet by the collar. Batman he growling something and the man was stammering away but Edward couldn't hear what they were saying and he didn't dare open the window. Batman threw his captive on the ground and he scrambled off probably to tell his boss whatever it was Batman had threatened him with.

Edward let the curtain fall shut as Batman slipped back into the shadows. He had planned to leave tonight but since the Bat was in the area he'd better wait. Running his fingers though his long hair he sighed. First thing he would do was get a haircut. Ever since Joker had killed the Arkham hairdresser and a nurse while getting his haircut the Rogues were not allowed to receive even the slightest trim. He supposed they were lucky that nobody has attacked with a shaver yet he never liked how he looked with a beard.

Knock. Knock. Edward jumped. Someone was knocking on the door. "Elizabeth," he hissed tapping on her door slightly.

"Get in and hide," she said and hushed past him. As Edward went to shut the door he caught a glimpse of something in her hands but he couldn't make out what it was. He heard Elizabeth unlock the door and there was a pause before she opened it.

"What do you want Grant," she asked angrily.

"Hey, hey, just being a good neighbor…" Grant whispered something to Elizabeth so Edward couldn't hear what he was saying. Elizabeth hissed something back at him but it was still too quiet for Edward to hear. Pressing his ear to the door Edward still only caught random words.

"Private…cheating…cage…rank…Friday…"

"Fine." Elizabeth said in a normal voice, "Now leave, I was heading to bed."

"Want company?"

"Want a black eye?" Edward chuckled, her tone told him she wasn't joking. Elizabeth shut the door and Edward peeked from her bedroom.

"What was all that?" He asked.

"Nothing important, just a jerk from down the hall."

"Hmm…is that a gun!?"

"Yeah, so?"

"You have a gun? When did you get a gun?"

"It was my dad's gift to me when I graduated high school. He said "if you ever have to use it you have to leave Gotham University"."

"Oh…have you…?"

"Not yet."

"So you might? I don't you think have the guts." Elizabeth frowned slightly but didn't say anything.

"Get out of my room, I'm going to bed."

"Fine, fine…sleep well." Elizabeth shut the door in his face and Edward immediately ran over to Elizabeth's purse where he knew she kept her planner. He flipped open to that Friday nothing. He checked the Friday after there was only a time marked and the initials PF written above it. That didn't tell him anything. He was about to shut the book when a paper in the back nearly fell out. Edward opened to it on the sheet was an address with the same date as the PF written on it. Memorizing the address quickly Edward slid it back into place and put the date book back into her bag. She would never know.

When Elizabeth woke that morning Edward was nowhere to be found he must have left during the night. On the table was a note or to be more precise a riddle. 'SUN RAE ADEBER DLEY OEITOUAZH' Elizabeth rubbed her eyes getting rid of the last dregs of sleep. The phrase had twenty-five letters but there was no key. She chuckled it was a simple cipher. Grabbing pencil she sketched a 5-by-5 grid. Writing the letters going down she was able to read the message. 'See you around dear Elizabeth.'

"Dear? Whatever." She pulled some Cheerios and milk out for breakfast. Now life could get back to normal.

It was half past ten when the phone rang. "Hello?"

"Elizabeth? Umm…it's—"

"Victoria!?" Elizabeth exclaimed. She couldn't believe her sister was calling her. It'd been at least eight months since they last spoke and they had parted on a bad note.

"Yeah, hey…umm…Elizabeth can I come visit you?"

"You want to come to Gotham? I thought you hated it."

"Yeah, but…I half to get away from Dad, I don't know how much I can stand of him and I need to talk to you face-to-face."

"Of course, of course, uhh…when were you thinking of coming?"

"Next week? I can't get a plane until then."

"Yeah, yeah, just email me your flight info and I'll come pick you up when you get here."

"Okay…thanks…bye."

"Bye, Victoria, I love you." Victoria didn't return the sentiment she just hung up. Elizabeth frowned at the phone. Her overly confident, proud, and sometimes bitchy little sister had sounded so weak and confused on the phone. Something really bad must have happened. She tried to push it out of her mind after all there was nothing she could do about but she was unsuccessful.

It seemed her sisterly instincts were kicking in and she caught herself half-way to calling her mom. The only reason she stopped was she realized that if Victoria was having a fight with dad then mom would be playing nurse and trying to fix everything. She probably didn't know that Victoria had called her and that she was planning on leaving Switzerland, if she did she most definitely stop her…or come with. Now Elizabeth loved her mother but her overly protective and worrying personality would just be a pain if she found out what kind of danger she was in.

Danger…Elizabeth shivered. She hadn't really thought of herself as being in danger until now. Her watch beeped. It was eleven o'clock she had a few things to do before her shift at four so she better leave now if she wanted to get them done.

Jane Rosslend stood outside Doctor Gullenrow's door listening in on the conversation he was angrily having over the phone. He had called her to his office several minutes ago but when he received the call he had ushered her out and told her to wait in the hall.

"I don't know what you want me to do! I told you everything I learned…Well I couldn't predict that! I tried to keep her away…it's Leeland's fault that happened! …No, no of course not, I'll try…I can't make any promises thou—okay, okay, I'll do it." The phone clicked as the doctor set it back on the hook. Rosslend backed away from the door quickly. Dr. Gullenrow was smiling as if nothing had happened when he opened the door.

"Come in, come in Jane, that you for waiting. Just an important call I had to take."

"Of course doctor. You are a busy man." Rosslend sat down in the armchair across from Gullenrow's desk. The doctor took his place behind the desk leaning forward on his elbows.

"Jane, you were the one who cleaned out Elizabeth Howard's cell correct?"

"Yes."

"Good, I would like to have the items you collected then."

"But sir, patients' belongs are to be put in storage when they've left Arkham."

"Miss Howard was never really a patient was she? …I've checked with Dr. Arkham and he says it's allowable."

"Very well then, I'll go fetch them now."

"Thank you…oh and I don't think anyone really needs to know do you? Especially Dr. Leeland."

"Of course." Rosslend left quickly to get the box from the basement. She always tried to please Dr. Gullenrow; one could've said that she had a bit of a crush on the not-so-good doctor. A relationship between them was impossible though. The doctor had made it quite clear that he wasn't interested in her. Still she couldn't forget her feelings for him which is why she would do anything to please him and harm anyone she saw as competition.

On her way back she nearly ran in to Dr. Leeland who was coming out of her office. Luckily she was able to duck around the corner before the doctor saw her. After that close call she saw no one else and made it back to Dr. Gullenrow's office without arousing any suspicion.

"Thank you Jane, I will remember your help here."

"Of course, Dr. Gullenrow, I better be getting back to my duties though."

"Yes, yes. See you around." Rosslend left and Dr. Gullenrow instantly began looking through the box. There had to be something here that he could use. 'Drawings of flowers, doodles of animals, sketches of machines…hang on.' Dr. Gullenrow pulled out the sketches. They were schematics some were half-finished but one in the back was near completion. According to the note in the corner it was a high-powered vortex cannon. His eyes widened as he stared at the paper. It was a work a genius, he had no idea what it was but it was brilliant and anything label cannon had to be good. He scanned the page and put it the original back in the box.

Picking up the phone he dialed a number. "Hello, this is Dr. Gullenrow, I've found something very interesting that I think you'd like…"