Edward glanced around the club from his table above the dance floor. He'd been here all night watching the crowd, yet he had not seen Elizabeth. Was it possible she had decided against coming? Or worse, had he been wrong to think she would come?
"Would you like a drink, Mr. Riddler?" Edward glanced up at the serving girl she looked like a shy sweet thing. She was going to be eaten alive by these people.
"No."
"Why not?" His table companion and current pain in the ass, Jimmy Falcone, asked, "It is a club. Bring us two brandies on the rocks, Sugar."
"Coming right up."
"You have to enjoy yourself a bit you know."
"I do not mix business and pleasure," he said turning away from the entrance for the first time in a half hour.
"What business? You never took interest in this before. When you demanded a ticket I thought it was for the pleasure of the girls and you haven't even looked at them."
"My business Falcone is no business of yours. So unless you have the money you owe me I don't suggest you speak to me again." Falcone scowled he hated being indebted to the Rogue. Ever since Riddler had use his skills to hide his dealings from the police and get him out of jail Falcone was under the Rogue's thumb until he paid him; unfortunately money was tight at the moment with Batman coming down hard on the mob.
The dance floor slowly began to clear as the midnight hour drew close. Five to, the music stopped and the floor boards taken away to reveal a large circular pit with several underground entrances. This was it. The lights turned inward to the ring lighting up the bloody sand within.
"Good evening ladies and gentlemen! Whores and ruffians! This is your monthly Pit Fight! A fight of the meanest and strongest renegades in Gotham! Tonight we have seven contestants hoping to show off their skills, but mainly their muscles, for your pleasure! Of course the prize money of eight grand doesn't hurt either." The crowd cheered the girls and alcohol may have been fun but this is what they were here for.
"And here they are! First we have the Brawn Brothers!" Two oversized men walked out waving at the ecstatic crowd. They were the crowd favorites and one of them usually won and they often worked together to take down their enemies. "Next we have Triple M! And behind him Shank!" Two smaller, though still quite larger men came out. Triple M was supposed "Master of Mixed Martial" arts and Shank was known for hiding small knives on his person. "Back from the hospital and eager to fight again we have our ring classics: Hit-Man and Red Hood!"
Edward raised an eyebrow. 'So that's how the Red Hood persona is being used now-a-days. A shame how they image has fallen.'
"Now a special introduction for a Pit premier! Give it up for the big, bad Wolf!" Edward nearly dropped his cane. It was Elizabeth!
The crowd fell silent, even the other fighters had stopped their preening to stare at her. Elizabeth appeared unaffected by this attention and took her place in the ring. The crowd began to whisper and Edward heard Falcone shift beside him to get a better look. Down in the pit Edward could see Elizabeth's golden eyes sizing up her opponents.
The commentator finally got over his shock. "W-well those are tonight's fighters! The fight will end with the last man-er-person standing! There is only one rule: no surrender! Brawlers are you ready!?" The fighters lowered themselves into ready positions. 'Ding, ding, ding!'
The bell seemed so far off to Elizabeth and the six men she was facing seemed to move very slowly. She blinked and time was back to normal. The Brawn Brothers barreled forward knocking Triple M and Shank backwards. Hit-Mad and Red Hood dodged them but they didn't veer off. They were targeting her. Elizabeth slid two steps back so she was closer to the wall. When they were close enough she rolled around the pair, the uglier of the brothers hit in to the wall with a sickening crunch. His brother stopped in time and turned quickly to face Elizabeth.
"I'm going to fuck you up girly, here and later, is that what you want my big juicy co—" The man doubled over as Elizabeth nailed him right in the diaphragm cutting off his breathing temporarily, giving her enough time to grab his massive head and pull it down kneeing him several times in the face. Blood sprayed from his nose and mouth drenching Elizabeth's leg. With a groan the man fell to the ground his eyes unfocused; but now the uglier brother had peeled himself off the wall. At the sight of his unconscious brother he let out a roar.
Charging forward, fists swinging he forced Elizabeth towards the center of the ring. On the defensive Elizabeth grabbed one of his fists as it went past her face. Using his own momentum against him, pulling him forward and, placing another hand on his stomach, threw him over her shoulder. His body hit the ground with a deft thump and then with a swift kick to the head he was unconscious.
Around her Triple M had just knocked out Shank and Red Hood was duking it out with Hit-Man. Before Triple M had time to catch his breath Elizabeth rushed him. He threw up his hands in defense; they exchanged kicks and blows none doing much damaged. Elizabeth had to admit the Triple M was very good. Triple M backed up and tripped over the prone body of Shank. Elizabeth went to deliver a kick to his head but he rolled away. When he got back up he was holding one of Shank's knives. Elizabeth swore.
He lunged at her, knife raised, and Elizabeth leapt back, however, she crashed into Hit-Man. There was a sharp pain as the blade sunk into her shoulder. A punch was heading towards her and she ducked. Triple M's fist collided with Hit-Man knocking him out. Elizabeth rolled away knife still buried in her flesh. Red Hood and Triple M were fighting now both of them already counting her out. She pulled the knife out. Adrenaline and pain were coursing through Elizabeth's system. She was at the edge of her control. As blood crept down her arm Elizabeth fell into darkness.
It felt like Elizabeth was dreaming. She could see what was happening around her but nothing really registered. Suddenly she was standing, pain gone, running towards the two fighting men; a burning rage towards the one that had hurt her. The man—the enemy—was focused on the red masked man and didn't see her until it was too late. Elizabeth grabbed his wrist from behind and twisted his arm so that his arm was flat and facing up. Then she brought her knee up bashing it against his elbow. She heard the bone crack but it wasn't enough she wanted blood. Another hit and the broken bone was warping the skin; Elizabeth pulled his wrist downward putting even more pressure against the skin.
The man was screaming. His face distorted with agony. "Blood for blood," Elizabeth whispered and with a great tug she forced the bone through. Blood sprayed her face and the man's body went limp, passed out from the pain. Slowly Elizabeth's focused shifted from her unconscious prey to the only other moving thing in the ring. Red Hood was staring frozen at the scene that had just taken place, his eyes were wide and the smell of fear rolled off him.
"Now how does it go? Doesn't the big, bad Wolf eat little Red Hood?" Elizabeth's voice was lower than usual, a cross between normal speech and a growl. Red Hood mumbled something about the "the huntsman" and Elizabeth let loose a back of laughter. "But there's no Huntsman here little Red Hood and I'm hungry." Elizabeth launched herself at the man and tackled him to the ground. She leaned over him her golden eyes burrowing into his. Then his eyes rolled back. He had fainted.
She stood scowling that was no fair. Elizabeth drove her heel into his stomach to make sure he was truly unconscious. He was. There was no one else in the pit. The adrenaline began to drain from her system. The blood on her skin was throbbing, making each nerve feel alive. A manic smile split across her face. She threw back her head and stared at the crowd. They were silent staring down at the pit with a mix of shock, wonder, and horror. Slowly the crowd revved up cheers and shouts rained down; Elizabeth spread her arms and bowed her head.
Inside her head Elizabeth started to comeback to herself. The pain was returning and exhaustion was setting in. Looking back up, past the crowd, to the level where the richer more important people were sitting. People like Falcone. The lights prevented her from really seeing anything but she knew she had accomplished her goal. There was movement around her; people were coming to collect the other fighters. Walking past them Elizabeth went down into the locker rooms.
Without changing out of her clothes Elizabeth turned on a shower head and stood underneath. The lukewarm water felt good even as it stung her wound. With the blood washed away Elizabeth could see the wound wasn't as deep as it felt, it must have hit the bone. Once a majority of the blood was off Elizabeth shut off the water. From her bag she took a jar of coagulant and shoved some of the powder into her wound. Within a few seconds the bleeding had slowed. She looked at it a bit closer. An inch long and about a centimeter deep. Damn. It would need stiches.
She peeled off her wet spandex shorts and pulled on the dry pair she had brought; she was about to do the same for her top when the door opened. Elizabeth spun around pulling her sports shirt back down.
"Hey, I was chang…" Elizabeth trailed off as a green clad man stepped in. Edward and Elizabeth stared at each other for a long second.
"You idiot," he said coldly.
"Not all of us can be as smart as you Edward." He took a few steps forward taking something from his pocket.
"Sit down. You need to be stitched up." Elizabeth sat on the bench and Edward sat next to her. "This is going to hurt." Then without warning he plunged the needle into her. Elizabeth gasped in pain but in a few seconds it was over.
"You're quick."
"As an enemy of Batman it is imperative to be able to fix yourself up quickly." He said slipping the needle and string back into his pocket.
"…Thanks." They both sat there staring anywhere but at each other.
"What were you thinking? This is no place for you." Edward finally said.
"Well, Cuvier has to pay for what he's done and he needs to be stopped, Batman isn't doing anything and I…I can't wait."
Edward nodded slowly. "And you think Cuvier is here?"
"No, but I need someone with the resources to find him. I tried getting information through other means but all I found out is that he doesn't work for the Maroni mob anymore."
"I see so you need Falcone."
"Yes…um, Edward could you turn around? This shirt is wet and covered in blood and I kinda…"
"Oh!" Edward stood quickly looking a bit flustered and turned around. Elizabeth changed quickly it was good she had brought doubles of her fighting clothes.
"Done. So, did you find my journal interesting?"
"You overhead that? Yes, it was interesting. The look into your mind was fascinating."
"So have you solved me then?"
Edward frowned slightly. "No." There was a knock on the door preventing them from talking anymore.
"Come in," Elizabeth called. A young slutily dressed serving girl came in. She looked frightened and couldn't take her eyes off the ground.
"Mr. Falcone requests your presence on the observation level. If you would please follow me." Elizabeth grabbed her bag and followed after the girl trying not to look too eager to meet the mobster. Edward followed behind Elizabeth watching the faces of the general population as she passed. Some looked at her in horror, some in admiration, and some (of the drunken) in lust. He felt a pang of anger towards those ones they had no right to look at her that way. Though…Edward had to admit her butt looked very good in those shorts.
Once they were on the observation level the men there looked at Elizabeth with appraising eyes. All had importance in one mob or another, with the exception of Maroni, with whom Falcone was rivals. The tables around Falcone had been cleared, at his orders no doubt, so no one would hear the two talking. There was another chair in place at Falcone's and Edward's table, Edward took his seat but Elizabeth didn't sit down. It was a smart thing to do as standing gave Elizabeth leverage over Falcone; she was much more dangerous standing than sitting and making Falcone realize this would give her power in their conversation.
"Please, sit down, you must be tired," Falcone said waving away the serving girl.
"I'm fine but thank you." Elizabeth sat not taking her eyes from Falcone.
"Would you like something to drink, on the house?"
"No." Falcone was slightly taken aback by this, most people don't deny a drink in Gotham, but he covered it quickly.
"Okay, straight to business then." Falcone drained the rest of his glass and leaned across the table towards her. "First off the prize money." He gestured and a brief case was brought forward. Elizabeth looked inside quickly her keen ears trying to pick out any bugs or tracers over the racket of the music. She nodded and took the case, placing it next to her bag.
"Secondly, Miss Howard, yes I know who you are, what are you doing here?" Elizabeth raised an eyebrow; she certainly hadn't expected this from him. The mob may be good on gathering information but they were usually imbeciles when it came to connecting the dots.
"If you know who I am then you know my back story from the papers, well part of it at least. What the papers didn't tell you is who done-it. I'm looking for Cain Cuvier but gathering information isn't my strong point."
"A revenge scheme…okay, I'll play. I've heard of Cuvier but what's in it for me?"
"A choice. One: I let you have the formula to do whatever you want with; or two: I will reduce the numbers of your main competitor, the Maroni mob." Falcone frowned he hated choices and both were very enticing. "I'll give you some time to think it over." Elizabeth leaned back in her chair.
"I'll be right back," Falcone said. He needed to talk to his advisors over what the best choice was. Elizabeth watched him leave then looked out over the balcony. The boards had been replaced and the dancing had started up again. Within a few minutes Falcone had returned.
"Okay deal. My boys well find Cuvier for you and you reduce the numbers of Maroni's boys."
"Perfect."