By Tuesday afternoon, it had started to seem like my life was back to normal. I had gone through about twenty-four hours of my lives without hearing from any of the rogues.

I hadn't realized it till now, but my life ever since the breakout had been nothing but a hectic string of event leading up to what is was now.

And a the same time, It felt strange not having to spy on anyone, plant false leads, or even have a confirmed meeting with them later. It was really kind of stressful, knowing that there was a potent poison that could come into play any day now, and I was inside a classroom, grading papers, rather than trying to stop it.

"Is something on your mind, Sable?" Professor Cook asked. "You've been mumbling to yourself for some time now."

"Have you talked with Jonathan lately?" I asked, putting the pen down and rubbing my eyes.

"Not since.. Friday. Yes, Friday. He came here after the… incident."

"Well, I guess you'll see him soon. Ask him about what he's been doing lately," I said, sighing. I didn't want to be the one to tell him about the possible poison that might end up flooding the didn't really know that, but there was an awful lot of evidence pointing to a situation similar to that.

"And why are you so stressed about what Jonathan's been doing?"

"because I'm doing it as well!" I mumbled. "And I'm certain it's not completely legal. I mean… i'm not hurting anyone directly, but I'm still nervous about the whole thing. What will by siblings do if I get thrown in jail?" I asked, shaking my head. "Or worse, Arkham."

"Somehow, I doubt you'd be doing anything serious enough to get you put into jail or Arkham. For one, you simply wouldn't agree to it. That wouldn't make sense for you, and two, I trust that Jonathan would be smart enough not to get you involved into something that might end badly." He stopped writing for a moment and looked up at me over his glasses. "What, exactly, are you doing?"

"Let's see.. I've harbored wanted criminals in my living room, been spying on other people without their consent, and have lied to the police."

"Hm… That sounds like my list, minus the spying part," he said amusedly, going back to writing. "I am curious about that, though."

"About what, sir?"

"About the spying. why?"

"It's what Jonathan, Edward, and I have been doing for a few days. The Mad Hatter found a lead on something that at first was just about Jonathan's stolen notes. But now… it's become a lot more drastic. Ask Jonathan later. He knows much more than I do."

"And that's why you're stressed?" he asked, calm as ever.

"I guess so… I think it's more the fact that I'm not doing anything about it now. The past few days have been hectic, but this morning was too quiet."

Professor Cook chuckled for a bit and then shook his head. "You worry too much. It's not uncalled for or anything, but you really do," he said. "If you're getting a break like this, then I'd suspect that it's pretty well under control right now. Don't worry," he said.

"I guess you're right…"

"Now, let's finish grading and then go over the lecture you gave today," he said, gesturing at the stack of papers with his pen. I nodded, smiling, and complied.

When I left the university, I found a message on my phone.

Meet me at your family's cafe at 1:30. New information.

-E.

"That was five minutes ago..." I sighed, starting to walk a little quicker. "Hopefully this new information is good," I mumbled. "My stress levels are way too high now."

"That's it?" I asked, rolling my eyes. "I walked all the way here for that. You could've just put it in the text."

"I thought you'd be happy to see me," Edward said, rolling his eyes. "And Catwoman being on our side is pretty good. It's also sensitive information that shouldn't be put onto an easily hackable text." Edward said, gesturing for me to sit down. I sighed and complied. He wasn't wearing his normal green suit and had forgone the domino mask .he almost looked normal. I guess he was in disguise.

"Fine… You're right. Sorry, I've been a little stressed today. Just… I feel like we're starting to tread water, not quite willing to break in yet, but also not really able to progress further without doing so..." I rubbed my temples and groaned.

"Not breaking in? Why do you think that I went to the trouble to convince Catwoman to help us?"

"Wait… what?" I sat up straight. "We're… gonna do it? We'll know everything tomorrow?"

"Maybe not everything, and maybe not tomorrow, but enough that we can plan accordingly. And we'll know it soon," Edward said, stirring his coffee and looking smug. "It was my idea to get her to help."

"Of course," I said, shaking my head. "Heaven forbid that you ever do something and not brag about it."

"Anyways, I thought you might be interested to know about that. You are one of the major players in this operation."

"Does Johnathan already know?"

"Of course he knows. He came with to recruit her."

"An… why did she agree to help us?"

"I offered her payment. There's a Save the Tigers Fund, or something similar, coming up. I'm certain she would like as much money as possible to donate there."

"I guess so. We're pretty lucky to have her help." I stirred my own cup of coffee. "What do we do after tonight? I suppose that the adventure is over then."

"Likely not. If the Joker is wanting to flood the whole city… that doesn't bode well for any of us. We'd have to stop him. If he isn't, then we'll leave him alone. Common courtesy among us, you know."

"I guess you're right," I sighed. "I'll just be glad when I don't feel like I have to stress over this. I probably shouldn't, but I still feel like if something goes wrong now, it's my fault."

"Why would it be your fault?"

"Because I knew more than most anyone else, and didn't just lead the Police right there. If people die…" I stopped and shook my head. "it wouldn't bode well for my conscious."

"Let's talk about cheerier topics," Edward said. "This one is starting to sound like a sob fest."

"Tch. Alright. What do you want to talk about then?" This seemed more natural. A coffee between two friends rather than a business meeting.

"What question can you never answer yes to?"

"A riddle… of course," I sighed. "Okay, I think I've heard this one before…"

Author's Note: Aand... it's finally up! Sorry again about the skip, and about not posting it earlier this morning. My family found some use for the computer all day and I didn't get it till later at night. Joy.

Anyways, hope that you enjoy! Tomorrow is my writing day, so I hope to get the next few chapters all completed, edited and ready for posting so there (hopefully!) won't be any more delays. I WILL be out of town on Wednesday and Saturday of next week, so I will be posting a day early and skipping Saturday, but other than that, it'll be a clear schedule until the end of the book. (About six chapters left!)

-Idealwolffang