Twenty

"I know you can see me, Riddler," Batman said, sounding bored.

"You want me to tell you about the girl," Riddler stated bluntly, his voice sounding through the speaker below his camera.

"And you want to get back at Joker," Batman replied, not missing a beat as he stood below the camera.

"Yes, but I'm hardly the type to snitch. I'm intelligent enough to make my own revenge," Edward smirked in his lair.

"You find it easy enough to snitch on yourself with your riddles," Bruce quipped back.

"I find that someone asking for a favor shouldn't insult the person that they're asking," Riddler growled.

"I apologize," Batman said dryly. "What can you tell me about Joker and his plans?"

"If I have it, I don't share it. If I share it, I don't have it," Riddler asked quickly.

"A secret," Batman realized.

"And I intend to keep mine to myself," Riddler answered, turning off the camera.

"Dammit," Bruce cursed under his breath. So Riddler does know something. But he won't share it.

"I take it the venture was unsuccessful then?" Alfred asked through the comms.

"Unfortunately. Riddler wants to get revenge on Joker himself," Batman replied, mindful that Riddler's camera could still be watching.

He swiftly grappled away to a rooftop that he knew had none of Riddler's cameras.

"However, that does leave us with an opening, Alfred. If we can keep an eye on Riddler and his activities, he should lead us straight to Joker. We'll just have to hope that his idea of revenge doesn't harm the girl, and if it does, that we can stop him in time," Batman counseled.

"Excellent, Master Bruce. However, that does raise the question of how we are going to watch Riddler so closely without him realizing."

"Leave that to me, Alfred. I know just the cat for the job," Batman replied.

"Just how well did that work out the last time you asked Miss Kyle for a favor?"

"This is different, Alfred. The girl's involved now. Selina may be a crook, but she has a soft spot for children, and she's no murderer. That little girl would remind her too much of herself. A street orphan forced into a life of crime," Bruce countered. Surely Selina wouldn't turn down a child in need.

"It's up to you, Master Bruce. I certainly can't stop you. I'd watch out for Ivy, though. You haven't apprehended her after the Arkham breakout yet, either."

"Thank you, Alfred. I'll be careful. I always am," Bruce assured his butler.

"Right," Alfred barked out a laugh. "That's a bloody good one, Master Bruce. I haven't heard one that good in a while."

"Yeah, sure, laugh it up, Alfred. I've been as careful as one in this position can be," Batman sighed.

"It would be an easier task if you had someone there to watch your back that doesn't have a habit of scarring it," Alfred pointed out.

"Do you ever think that this job won't end?" Bruce asked suddenly.

"All the time, Bruce. There is no retiring from this. You need someone to take up the mantle. Even Joker gets that. Why do you think he took such a young child? He wants a better, crazier successor to be able to take over when he inevitably meets his end. He's a complete nut job, but even he sees that he can't be doing this forever. No one is going to take a seventy year old man in clown makeup seriously. That is, if he isn't dead before then," Alfred replied. "Maybe it's time you did the same. Find someone to hand the reins to when all is said and done."

"Maybe," Bruce agreed. "But before that we need to sort out the girl. I'm going to go find Selina."

"Don't bother," a feminine voice interjected.

Batman whipped around, not used to being the one that's snuck up on.

"Guess that's a point for me. What's the score now?" Selina asked, moving forward seductively.

"Selina," Bruce breathed, turning off the comms for the moment.

"Don't make a habit of stating the obvious, Wayne, it doesn't suit you," she replied, smirking.

"Now what's all this about you needing a favor?" She purred, slinking forward and circling the Dark Knight.

"I'm sure you heard enough to know exactly what I need from you, Selina. I need to save that girl from the Joker's clutches, and Nigma is my only lead," Bruce replied.

"Yes, yes, it's all very dramatic, I'm sure," Selina brushed it off. "But I need to know what's in it for me."

"I'll owe you a favor," Batman returned.

"I think after our last meeting you already owe me one, playboy. Try again," she snickered, drawing a claw gently down his side.

"I thought we'd decided to call it even after that night," he smirked back.

"As if, Noble One. Please don't allow your head to grow any larger than it already is," Selina scoffed.

"Selina, please," Bruce suddenly switched tactics. "This girl doesn't deserve the hand she's been given. She was born on the streets, her father died, and she got kidnapped by the world's most renowned psychopath."

"Bad things happen all the time, Bruce. I hate to say it but we both know it's true. We especially know it's true," Selina pointed out. She began to leave.

"Her mother abandoned her you know," Bruce spoke out, causing Selina to freeze with a foot on the ledge. "For money and a fake life. Left her only child on the streets and never bothered to come back for her—until there was something in it for her. Remind you of anyone you know?"

Both of them knew it was a low blow, a cheap shot. But even though Selina knew that he said it to manipulate her, she knew that it didn't make it any less true. Bruce wouldn't lie to her, especially not when it came to that.

"Fine," Selina relinquished. "I'll watch out for Eddy, and the kid. I'm not promising I'm gonna tail him or anything, and I can't say anything for Ivy."

"I wouldn't expect you to," Bruce replied softly.

Selina leaped off of the building.

<><><><><><><><><><><>

Torturing Phil was no longer fun for the Joker. No one likes to play with broken toys.

And that's what Phil was. Broken.

He doesn't even scream anymore. Where's the fun in that?

That could be because you cut out his tongue.

Semantics.

Not quite.

In short, Joker had decided that it was finally time for Phil to meet his end. But before that, he wanted to get a scream out of him one last time. For old time's sake.

I've already cut off his fingers for touching what's mine, but what will really be the kicker is removing the head he's been thinking with his whole life. The one three feet below his mouth.

J advanced with a pair of clippers.

<><><><><><><><><><><>

Madeline had come downstairs in the middle of the night for a glass of water, or a water bottle, or something. Whatever was accessible.

She stopped in her tracks, however, when she heard a muffled—but still blood-curdling—scream. Maddie immediately knew where it was coming from. Daddy's secret room in the basement. I wonder what movie he's watching? It sounds scary.

Too curious for her own good, Madeline decided that it was finally time for her to sneak into the forbidden chamber. She cautiously crept down the steps, mindful of the ones that creaked as she advanced.

Soon enough she was in front of the door, behind which pitiful whimpers could be heard. Frightened now, but still determined, Madeline slowly turned the knob and pulled the door open silently.

Nothing could have prepared her for what was behind that door. Even though Madeline knew her daddy was a murderer, and she had seen him kill before, the sight of bloodied, tortured Phil from her first day would frighten her out of her wits anytime.

Joker hadn't noticed her yet, but Maddie was too shocked to back away. She watched in frozen horror as J lifted his knife, and circled behind Phil, focused on his neck rather than on his daughter in the doorway. He placed the knife against his beaten victim's throat and slowly pulled it backwards, making the decapitation slow and painful. Phil could only gurgle weakly as his head was shorn off.

It was only when the head thumped to the floor that Madeline finally screamed bloody murder, causing J to look up, surprised. He hadn't known Madeline was there. He couldn't help the sudden rage that flowed through his veins.

"Didn't I tell you not to come in here?! I told you that this was off limits didn't I? How dare you disobey me like that?" He fumed, storming forward towards his child.

Madeline started shrinking in on herself as Joker approached, flinching and crying in terror. He raised his hand above his head, and all of a sudden, it was like water had been poured all over him, waking him up. He had been about to hit her. When he realized that, he dropped his hand, but Madeline's eyes were still squeezed tightly shut.

"Madeline? Hey, hey, doll it's alright, um, I'll go get Andy and Thomas," Joker soothed, only to back out as he didn't know how to handle emotions. As he ran out of the basement to go find the two gay men, Maddie opened her eyes.

And when she saw the headless corpse again, she stood up and ran.

<><><><><><><><><><><>

The streets of Gotham were cold at night. Madeline knew that much, but it'd been so long since she'd had to be out on the streets at night that she'd forgotten what it felt like. She shivered, drawing her arms closer to herself as she walked down the road.

It had been surprisingly easy to flee the house, all things considered. With staff shortened after Disney World, there were few people manning the perimeter, so she'd been able to easily slip through while Joker was looking for her caregivers.

Maddie wasn't sure why she'd left, now. She sort of wanted to go back, but fear kept her from doing so. She'd known that Joker was a murderer, but she had no idea that he did things like that to people. And now she'd left him. She was too scared of how he'd punish her to turn around. Andy and Tommy are probably worried sick, she thought guiltily. But they'd understand.

The mansion was closer to the city than she'd previously thought. She'd been walking for only thirty minutes before the outskirts of town came into view. Madeline brightened some, wanting to find a dumpster somewhere to take cover near. She knew that they had to be looking for her by now, and if the search hadn't left the house, it would soon.

Two different figures watched the lone girl meandering down the streets. Both of them were villains, but only one would take her with them.

Riddler got out of the car and slowly approached the girl. He'd had a man watching the mansion, so he knew almost immediately that she had left. Selena had simply followed him right to the girl.

"Madeline? What are you doing out here by yourself?" He asked, seemingly out of kindness.

Maddie whipped around, calming when she realized that it was only her Uncle Eddy. Catwoman narrowed her eyes at the scene from the rooftop where she was perched.

"Uncle Eddy, I ran away," she sobbed. "I want to go back, but I'm too scared of what he'll do."

"Well, how about you come home with me for the night, and in the morning I'll contact him and we'll work this whole thing out," Edward proposed, smiling sinisterly.

"Really?" Madeline asked hopefully.

"Of course. We are family after all," Riddler replied. "Just come and hop into my car and we'll be on our way."

"I wouldn't do that, kitten," Catwoman finally interjected.

Both Riddler and Madeline turned to see who the newcomer was as a figure clad in all black leather landed before them. Maddie was almost immediately reminded of Smiles when she noticed the woman's cat ears and claws. Smiles! I left her behind! Now the storms can get me!

"Who are you?" Madeline asked, wanting to hide behind Edward.

"The outfit's pretty self-explanatory, kitten. I'm Catwoman. And you're about to run off with Riddler," Selina pointed out.

"Stay out of this, you infernal feline," Edward warned. "Now, Madeline. Would you rather go with the strange cat obsessed woman, or your Uncle Eddy, whom you know and trust?"

"Don't go with him, kitten. He's trying to get revenge on the clown through you," Selina protested, moving forwards.

"The Bat put you up to this, didn't he?" Riddler growled.

"Who's the Bat?" Maddie asked.

"The Bat is Batman, Madeline. The scary man in all black from the fair," Edward answered quickly.

Madeline paled at this response. She wanted nothing to do with the scary man who seemed to want to take her from her daddy.

"I don't want to go with the Bat," Maddie cried out.

"Then don't go with Selina. She and the Bat are friends. She's working for him," Edward deceived.

"Now hold on just an ever-loving minute, riddle man. I never promised the Batman anything. I said I'd keep an eye on you, out of fear for the girl, but I never said I'd turn her over to him. Lord knows he's terrible with children," Catwoman hissed.

Now Madeline was torn. Uncle Eddy is starting to scare me, and he and Daddy did have a fight, but can I trust this kitty lady?

Finally she arrived at a decision. I know my daddy will come for me no matter what. He can take down anyone, but there's a chance that this cat lady will take me to the scary Bat, and I certainly don't want that.

"I want to go with Eddy," she finally said. Riddler tensed, expecting a fight from Catwoman, but got none.

"Fine. I never told the Bat that I'd get my paws dirty for him," she dismissed, slinking away.

Edward smirked. Everything was falling into place. He pulled open the car door for Madeline and gestured grandly to it.

"Your car awaits."

<><><><><><><><><><><>

Madeline was gone.

It took a while for Joker to process this fact. That his daughter was gone. That she'd left. She'd left him. She'd left him.

It had been easy enough for him to find Andrew and Thomas and order them to come to the basement to help Madeline, but it hadn't been easy to explain why or hide his mounting panic.

Things only got worse when he found the basement empty of anyone except for the corpse. Joker had flipped the fuck out. He went apeshit on absolutely everyone in sight.

"Find her," he'd said, quietly at first.

"What?" Andy asked.

"I said FIND HER! FUCKING SEARCH EVERYWHERE! She couldn't have gone far," he shouted back.

Andy and Tommy quickly backpedaled out of the room and searched frantically for Madeline. But she was nowhere to be found. Even Joker himself was searching for her about the house, but once he saw that the front door had been left cracked open, he knew that she had flown the coop and immediately sent out goons to look for her and dashed to his own Lamborghini so that he personally could find his daughter.

They drove around all night, but to no avail. She was nowhere to be found.

Joker was forced to admit defeat at dawn. He'd spent the evening doing a combination of avoiding Batman and searching for Madeline. In short, he was exhausted. And despite how much he hated it, it was likely that Madeline had been taken by someone, whether they be benevolent or malevolent was irrelevant. Someone had his girl and it wasn't him.

Someone was going to die.