"Is there another restroom?" Adriana asked a guard flirtatiously. She intentionally went to the west side of the building away from the crowded party. "The other one's are all occupied right now and I really need to use the restroom."
The guard looked around for a moment and then back at her before stepping aside, giving her access to the area that was supposed to be off limits for guests.
"Down this hall, third door after the first left," he said and winked at her.
The mansion was enormous. The home of a multi-millionaire who spared no expense in showing off. It felt like she was in the Palace of Versailles. After making the first left, Adriana went up a staircase, practically running. She wanted to be in and out and get this over with as soon as possible. The faster that she could get this done, the more she would impress the Joker. She could prove that she was more effective at being a thief than an assassin. The office was easy to find for her and she looked at the keypad on the door. The Joker knew they would be precautions like this. It was to be excepted. If she was able to find a way around them, she knew he would see her value as a thief.
Trying to break through the door or entering the wrong code would alert all security.
The Joker saw this whole mission as a joke and merely entertainment. He would find another way to get what he needed, he thought. Once it was over he intended to kill Farhad and hand Adriana her assignments of people to kill for him. At the very least she was an effective assassin.
The keypad had a red light on it. She stared at it for a second while she concentrated...Al-Hashimi's mind was somewhere close by within the mansion and she needed to find it. It took a bit of searching but she found the code.
8-8-7-6-0-1-3-4-5-1
She typed in the ten digits as quickly as she could. Once in the dark office she ran over to the computer and plugged in the port Alexander had given her. She also knew that it would take longer for Alexander to hack the computer remotely than for her to just scan Al-Hashimi's thoughts for the password and exactly location of the file they needed.
Within less than two minutes she had the file on the port. She knew that Alexander would be confused and would likely tell the Joker that the mission was probably a failure because his access to the computer was broken when she removed the port. She didn't have time to worry about that right now. Security was on their way.
They had been notified digitally that the office had been accessed. A guard asked Al-Hashimi about it and he had no idea what was going on. Four guards were coming up the stairs. She yanked the port from the computer. The small purse she had contained nothing but the phone, which she pulled out and called the only number in the contacts list as she left the office and ran down the hall.
"They know I'm here," she said.
"Okay," Alexander said nervously. "I'll see what I can do."
Adriana ran down another small hallway. Dead end...She walked a bit more, noticing that she smelled chlorine. She opened a door where the smell seemed to be coming from and was on a small balcony with many seats and a bar. There was a dimly lit indoor pool down below. Behind it was her way out...enormous glass walls, and a door out to the gardens.
Quietly, she shut the door and looked down. The guards were coming and there was no time for her to waste running to and waiting for the elevator that she could see at the end of the balcony. She had to jump.
She tossed off the heavy pink floor length jacket she was wearing and placed the phone her ear again.
"Is the port waterproof?" she asked Alexander. "Will the files be damaged if the device gets wet?"
"Yes," he answered, "Why-"
"I'll escape through the gardens..there's a road there right? Can you make it there right now?" she asked. "Is there a road there? I think I see in through the windows...can you get there? I'm on the west side of the mansion."
"I'll try," he said. "I'll drive over now."
She tucked the port into her bra. She jumped with the phone in her hand. It was old and likely destroyed immediately. The dress also became very heavy in the water but she swam with all of the strength that she had to the direction of the door. She pushed it open with both arms before running into the gardens. Her gift told her that security was everywhere and she had to avoid them.
The icy chill in the wind took the air out of her lungs as she made her way to the gate. Soaked and outdoors in the height of winter.
She could barely breathe and her skin was freezing from the harsh December weather. She yanked off the soaking wet dripping wig and ran as quickly as her legs would allow until she reached the gate. There was a keypad there as well, to get in or out. A guard was close. She found the code in his mind. She could see her breath as she typed it in.
7-4-8-1-1-*
She was out. There was a dark road there and in the distance the could see headlights approaching quickly. It was the Lincoln town car that she had been dropped off in. As it approached the could see the black tinted windows. It screeched to a halt in from of her and she dove into the backseat and shut the door. The car took off so quickly that she fell from the seat to the floor.
She screamed as she heard gunshots..Al-Hashimi's security team were firing at the car. They knew she had accessed the office. She continued to lay on the floor and placed both hands over her head and felt the car swerving violently. The driving felt reckless enough that she became more afraid of a crash than the gunfire. The sounds of the shots faded as the car sped up.
As soon as the driving felt more stable she tried to move but was trapped as the bottom of her dress had been closed in the door. The sound of gunfire faded entirely. She pulled the bottom of the dress hard enough to rip it so that she was free.
Her arms felt heavy, cold and weak. She pulled herself up and into the back sea.
"Ple..Please turn on the heat," she with her teeth chattering. "Please."
The seat was wet and cold as well and she sat in the frigid puddle on the leather seats. Her head fell forward and her teeth hit each other loudly.
After a few seconds she could feel the blast of heat. It warmed her enough to assuage her belief that she would suffer hypothermia.
"Thank you," she said weakly. "Thank you."
After allowing her body to warm a bit she lifted her head and looked up into the rear view mirror. The driver was the Joker. He glanced at her in the mirror before looking back the road. He was wearing a black suit and a black chauffeur's hat. His face was bare. All that she could see was his forehead and the dark circles under his eyes.
"And Alexander?" she asked tentatively after hearing panicked and desperate thoughts with barely any effort. Someone was behind her. Someone was in danger.
"He's safe and sound," the Joker answered.
"And Farhad?" she asked.
"In the trunk," he answered casually.
He continued to drive for a while in silence before pulling over. She placed her hand on her forehead then noticed her hand was red from the spray dye.
"Would you like to join him?" the Joker asked without turning around, only making eye contact in the rearview mirror. "Or accept your list of marks?"
He had assumed the mission had been a fail.
"His plan worked," she said seriously, wishing her voice wasn't shaking from feeling cold. "I have what you wanted."
"Oh I seriously doubt that," the Joker said, knowing that she had only been in the building five minutes. Alexander had told him that connection had been lost before he could hack into the computer to give her access to the files.
She had accessed them on her own.
"I swear," she said. "Check it yourself."
He looked into her eyes through the mirror. She reached into the dress and pulled out the port tucked into her chest area. After that she leaned forward and held out the port beside his head.
"You know I'm good with computers and technology. That's how I was able to wipe the footage from when I had to kill Mateo," she lied. Mateo's team had wiped it." I got everything..the whole file.."
He reached up and snatched the port from her hand. Adriana leaned back in the seat and looked out the window. They were at a freight truck stop. He then reached over to the glove box on the passenger side and pulled out a small laptop. He connected the port to it. Seconds later he was able to see what was on the port's files.
Everything was there. Everything he needed to access the lab as well as files about the locations of where things were stored within the building. As she said it was.
"Please let him go," Adriana said once the Joker pulled up the files. "I'll do anything you want. I will keep working for you on this team...I'm not an assassin but I am smart..and I have many skills. I'm not useless. Please, just let him go."
The Joker was quiet for a moment. She looked over his shoulder seeing the jagged scars bulging out beneath his cheekbones. His cheek twitched as he pulled both lips over to the side for a brief second.
"Let him go," she repeated. "Please."
He slapped the laptop shut after pulling out the port. Without replying to or looking at her, he opened the door and got out, the door shutting behind him immediately. She looked out the window.
She watched him walk a few feet over to a freight truck they were parked by before driving off in it. He had left the keys in the car. Adriana felt all the air leave her lungs in relief. He was gone. She grabbed the keys and then dashed around to the trunk and untied Farhad after removing the duct tape from his mouth.
"Where is he? Where-" he began to ask in fear.
"It's okay," Adriana assured him. "We're safe. He left. I got the data he wanted.
"The information from Al-Hashimi," he began to speak before hugging Adriana. "You did it?!"
She nodded.
"You...saved my life," he said and then looked around to make sure the Joker was actually gone.
He started to climb out of the trunk.
"Never again!" Farhad said as he hugged her. "All I could think of is my children! This is not worth it for the money to bring them here to America! I will never work for such a monster...ever! Never again. I was doing this to...take care of my family...he only wanted the blueprints and I though I could get it...but th-"
"I know," Adriana said. "It's okay. We're safe."
.
.
.
"He really sent me this email," Adriana said to Lucius as he typed away on his computer. "A formal business email? Is he serious?"
Adriana had just shown Lucius the email that Bruce had sent her. They were supposed to have a training session that evening but he had his assistant email her about a scheduling conflict. It felt very impersonal.
"He could have just texted me..I mean I tried to call him and he hasn't answered," Adriana went on, venting.
"He's in his office," Lucius said.
"I'm not going to his office," Adriana said. "He obviously doesn't want to see me."
"Allow me to make the same suggestion again," Lucius said. "Inform him that you are Shade."
"I..." she said and thought of her words telling the Batman that he needed to stay away from her. It would be too much to explain the reasoning behind her threat. "I can't...it's complicated."
"Do you blame him?" Lucius said, before taking a sip of his coffee while still looking at his computer screen.
"Well...it's not like I'm going to expose him..that's never going to happen-"
"He doesn't know that Shade is also you," Lucius said. "This could easily be resolved."
"So what! I mean, he shouldn't be icing me out just because I won't use my gift to help him...I thought I meant more to him than that," she said.
"Something tells me this has happened to you before," Lucius said, finally looking away from the screen and at her. She as pacing his office with her hands on her hips.
Lucius always understood her so easily. Adriana was sure he was the best friend that she had ever had.
"It always happens...they always want me to use my gift. Every man I've ever been involved with. I did it with Damien...that's how I ended up working for the Batman. He convinced me..." Adriana said.
"I'm sorry to hear that," Lucius said sincerely. "But Bruce's identity being confidential is very important to him."
"I know," she sighed, "I just feel like this...stupid ass e-mail...I mean it's very childish. Does this mean we are breaking up? I mean...I suppose we were never officially together."
"I'm not sure I can answer that," Lucius said.
"I hate this," she said. "He hates me now."
"No, just give him time," Lucius said. "And the truth."
"Yeah," she muttered. "I'll think about it. I have to go."