The Greatest Fear Is Fear Itself Part 1 [Natalie]

[Deleted]

Edward sat in the passenger seat of his car in the alley as they waited for the girl. This was always the part that bored him. The coffee addict would eventually come to the café, but Edward only option was to wait. He had been waiting for most of the day and darkness had already settled around Gotham. He rolled his tootsie pop around his finger just to do something mundane that required a little thought. His mind jumped to Nina. It had been a week since there serious conversation and since then he had gotten caught up in preparing this riddle. He tried to sacrifice a few hours here and there each day to talk to her and just hear what she had to say…to understand her more, but a lot of time he got home too late. He would walk into his room and see her sleeping in his bed. He would lean against his doorframe and study her slow breathing, the way her hair was a mess, and the tangled sheets around her. He would always be tempted to join her, but he would only smirk before turning to his closest to grab extra blankets for the couch. He would be up before her, and he highly doubted she even knew he was there.

He saw her car pass the alley. Bingo. “Let’s go,” he told Allen as he opened up his door. Allen grunted opening up his own door. He slammed the door to his beautiful car heading out of the alley. Robby was already on the street in a causal outfit watching the car and where it would park. It was the first time the boy had really worked again since Nina had started living with him. He basically gave Robby the job of doing whatever she asked. The boy seemed a bit more jittery then normal, and Edward could only believe the kid had soften in the weak.

Edward and Allen stayed in the ally way until Robby casually ran his hand through his hair telling them she went inside the coffee shop. Edward walked out staying away from the window of the coffee shop. He was wearing his usual outfit, not the bright green one, but a dark green jacket over a tee shirt and his hat. Again it was nothing that screamed out to the public he was the Riddler, but the girl would probably recognize him. “Where’s the car?” he asked the kid.

“Over there, boss,” he said pointing to the car around the corner.

Edward nodded, “Get in your place.” He then headed to the car pulling out his blackberry. He had already hacked into Onstar. People truly did not realize how satellites and the Internet had destroyed the walls of security. With a click on his phone, he heard the car unlock. “Pop all the tires,” he ordered Allen, “Then go to your place." Edward opened up the back door shutting it behind him. He slide behind the driver’s seat, putting his cane on the ground. He pulled out his gun before hiding below the windows of the car. Now all he had to do was wait again….joy.


--When Natalie goes into to get her coffee the boy behind the counter will put in a special coffee collar that has:

3-668-468-6227 Hopefully, I’ll see you soon.

Written in permanent marker. The Riddler bribed the boy to give that to her. The boy thinks the older man just has a crush on her and takes the money not thinking its a riddle.

[nmartin]

Another long day of class meant one thing to the exhausted Natalie at the moment: coffee. Now that she'd kind of gotten a pattern down of heading to the cafe down the street from the university instead of the one in East Gotham run by that woman who thought it was her place to give Natalie a lecture.. she could even get home before she usually did. Generally she'd get home anywhere between about 8:45 and 9:00pm, now she might even get home by as early as 8:20. Good news for her. More time to do all the work she needed to do at home as well.

Parking her car, Natalie got out and locked the doors remotely, the lights flashing twice in the otherwise dark ally way. She pushed some of her bangs away from her face as she walked into the coffee shop tiredly, her eyes not meeting those of the man's behind the counter, though he greeted her as she walked in. Instead, she kept looking up at the menu, though she didn't even need to do that. She knew what she wanted already. A large mocha, since it was probably the most relaxing drink that she could think of. Coffee wasn't supposed to put anyone to sleep, but the chocolate portion of it did help her to feel a bit more sleepy. Natalie was certainly not against more sleep in her schedule.

Walking up to the counter, Natalie flashed a quick faked smile, and pulled her money out while ordering her drink so as to focus her sight elsewhere, instead of on the man behind the counter. "A medium mocha, please." She said, and took out a five dollar bill, only getting one dollar and eleven cents back. Expensive, and her third coffee of the day, but it was worth it. Perhaps when her research got to be more intensive and costly, her money would be focused elsewhere. For now however, it was her main financial concern.

The drink was handed to her on the opposite end of the bar a few momennts later, the sleeve with the odd numbers and a message on it going all but completely unnoticed by Natalie. Sleeves weren't to read, they were to hold and cover completely with one's hand. Even if she did see the message on it, she wouldn't pay it any attention. Coffee houses were always putting strange things on sleeves in order to be more.. original, or something. Little sayings, moral boosts, what have you.

Exiting the cafe, Natalie took a sip of the coffee and let out a quiet sigh, unlocking her door from a distance while glancing down at the pavement just out of there being nothing else that much more interesting to look at. She didn't notice anything.. off from before. Not the tires, or anything. The poor girl was extraordinarily tired, and was half tempted just to call it an early night when she finally arrived home. To hell with her research for one night. She hadn't gotten a full night's sleep in months, the most she recalled getting since the start of this semester being five hours, tops.

Opening the door to her car, she sat in the driver's seat and sat the coffee in the cupholder, shoving some of her papers out of the passenger's side to make room for her bag again. A bad habit of hers was that she tended to keep everything in her car, due to the fact that she was at home far less hours of the week than she was at the university. It was more convenient here. Her car wasn't messy by any means, just.. kind of cluttered. In an organized way. There were books stacked on top of each other in the back seat, binders on the floor of the back seat, and her papers, organized in files in the front seat.

Shutting the door and putting the key into the ignition, she turned her car back on before she caught what she thought to be a glimpse of movement in the back, and glared up at the rear view mirror quickly.

[Deleted]

The Riddler heard the door open and a girl slide into the driver’s seat. As expected she didn’t figure out the riddle. He matched the phone number to letters to state, ‘Don’t go to Car.’ She had either overlooked it or was too unintelligent to figure out a simple warning. He was, however, thankful he did not have to stay in the uncomfortable position behind the seat any longer. Once upon a time, he could call himself flexible, but with the accident and age his ability to maneuver his body anyway he wanted had become very difficult.

So when she shut the door he wasted no time bringing the gun to the side of her head. He wondered if he were to shoot if any signs of a brain existing would even be evident or if a bullet would just go through hallow skull. “Riddle me this, the eight of us go forth not back to protect our king from foe’s attack, what are you?” he asked with a smirk. His eyes locked to the rear view mirror to see her face. It was dark, but he could still make out the annoyed look in her eyes.

“Dear, I don’t expect you to deduce such a simple riddle, but I do expect you to follow orders. Even a monkey could accomplish such an easy task,” he taunted with a smirk, “So please put both hands on the steering wheel unless you want to solve a different riddle. What happens to someone when they are shot point blank in the head.”

Edward eyes danced towards the side window checking to see if Allen was in his place. If the girl decided to make a run for it, Allen would be ready. It would be very stupid idea on her part because once Allen caught her Edward would make sure she never had the ability to run again. From personal experience, he could admit it was a horrible feeling, but he would feel little guilt for a person unable to listen. He also had to be prepared. Some people when frightened ran, some fought, some obeyed. He was ready for any or all options.

[nmartin]

Yep. She knew she saw something. She would! The night she thought she'd be able to get more rest than usual, he had to show up. Dr. Nashton, also known as the Riddler, she'd found out. Furrowing her brows, she glared at him through the rear view mirror, not expressing any outward fear even with the gun pointed to her head. She'd been in a similar situation before, after another run to get coffee, actually. What was it with people holding her at gunpoint when she had coffee? She wasn't afraid of him. She was extremely annoyed, however. Especially because she knew this was about Dr. Crane's research again, and she'd already made it clear she wasn't going to put his work in jeopardy.

"A pawn." Natalie answered simply, reaching down for her coffee cup to take one more sip before she had to deal with this whole ordeal. The sip turned into more of a chug, drinking as much of the expensive drink as she could, since she was certain she wasn't going to be able to enjoy it in peace.

After she got her fix of the beverage though, she did what he said. She put her hands on the steering wheel, and slumped her shoulders forward out of exhaustion, both mentally and physically, and annoyance. Could she just not catch a break? If it wasn't the insane amount of work that she'd basically cornered herself into, it was something worse. Even though she lacked fear of the man, she knew this situation was worse, if only because of the gun pointed at her head.

"You couldn't have done this any other night?" She muttered under her breath, letting out a sigh and closing her eyes, wanting to catch up on at least a few minutes worth of visual rest while she had the chance.

[Deleted]

He would have appreciated the correct answer if she hadn’t immediately disobeyed his order by grabbing her drink. He cringed as he watched her gulp back her coffee completely disregarding the gun to her head. His finger twitched ready to the trigger. Oh how he greatly just wanted to pull it and hear the sound of the shot. No, he needed her if he were to get the toxin. It still didn’t stop him from pushing the weapon harder against her temple out of reflex.

“Since you know the answer I would assume then you would realize how sacrificial those pieces are,” he said through clench teeth trying to remind her that her life was in danger. He didn’t understand why his luck always got him caught in dealings with disrespectful women. This was the problem with the feminist movement, women felt entitled for more then they deserved unable to realize that men were the reason they were supported. Instead of being disrespectful they should just go back to the kitchen and cook. Of course, today’s women would find such a statement sexist while they continued to use their bodies to get ahead. Hypocrisy at its best.

When the girl put her hands on the steering wheel some of the irritation calmed to rationality again, but then she spoke. “Oh? I apologize I don’t take into consideration the schedule of a common student whose worth could rival a termite,” he stated moving gun down to her thigh. If he shot through her thigh, she wouldn’t die. It would be painful because it would go through a major artery, but he could prevent death before she lost all of her blood. She would pass out, but that wasn't really a negative in his eyes. His other hand reached around the seat and into her pants pocket. He frowned not finding what he wanted so he moved back around reaching into her other pocket. There it is. He pulled out her phone, only glancing at it for a moment before putting it in his jacket. He would need this for his next riddle.

“Start the car,” he ordered only half focusing on her as he pulled out his own phone texting Robby. This was going easier then he thought it would….even if her presence was bothering.

[nmartin]

Natalie was aware that the Riddler wasn't just going to kill her on a whim. Immediately, anyway. He obviously needed her for something, hence why he was .. well, there, and referring to her as a pawn. Though he did mention just how sacrificial pawns were, so she was taking the situation a bit more seriously. That didn't necessarily mean that she was showing any outward signs that she was afraid yet, however.

"Yeah, I'm aware of that." She said with a bit of a tone, rolling her eyes while she waited for whatever it was he needed her to do next. She wasn't going to give any more information about the toxin. Not that she had much more information she could give anyway. His comment about how useless she was though, did make her chuckle a little.

"I'd like to see how much you'd accomplish without me, then." She said, immediately kind of regretting it when she felt the gun on her thigh. He wouldn't kill her just yet; that didn't mean he wouldn't hurt her. And being shot in the leg would hurt. A lot. No matter how much she disliked the man, she really did need to watch herself around him to avoid getting severely hurt.

When he reached into her pants pocket, she stayed calm but had a very, very strong urge to elbow the man in the face. She could.. she was about to, her arm made the twitch to make the movement, but she didn't. Not with the gun there. He only needed her phone, for a reason she had lined up in her head, but of course she wasn't going to say anything about it. Shifting uncomfortably in her seat, she turned the key in the ignition, and started the car like he said.

[Deleted]

I’d like to see how much you’d accomplish without me, then.

Was she being serious? He found a humorous smile dancing across his face and a short laugh leave his lips. He was the Riddler. He didn’t need anyone. If they became too problematic he would find another way to reach his goal. The wonderful thing about riddles is that even though there is only one answer there are thousands of ways to get to that answer. The Riddler, being a genius, analyzed all the ways and always chose the best one, but if he were to get rid of this annoying girl he could easily find another way to get his hands on the toxin. He probably wouldn’t even have to present Scarecrow with a riddle because he would come after him for revenge. When a person is fueled by revenge it is a simple task to manipulate them because they lose their ability to think logically.

So no, he did not need her.

“Dear, I would suggest not tempting the person with the gun to a challenge because I will gladly take up the offer,” he stated with another laugh. He noticed the flinch in her arm when he gotten her phone. She greatly despised him, and he took some pride in that factor. Normally anyone thinking less of him would insult his ego dearly, but if he got on this girl’s nerves as much as she got on his…well it was a fair game.

“Now this, once again, requires you to listen and obey. There is little thought in this procedure but a girl like you I could see easily messing it up,” he stated with a snarky smirk, “Take a left, drive two blocks down and take a left into the alley. Ignore the scrapping of your tires.”

“I wouldn’t risk driving with a woman any distance longer,” he mumbled out thinking of the statistical comparison between women and accidents and men and accidents.

[nmartin]

Natalie was being serious, if only because she hadn't considered the other options that the Riddler would have of getting Dr. Crane's research. She was well aware that there were other ways, she just didn't happen to think of that before she spoke. Plus, she was frustrated. That alone made her a bit more clumsy with her speech than she'd care to admit, though the probability of Edward mocking her for that was probably quite high. If he felt so inclined.

Saying nothing in response to his second command, Natalie put the car in reverse to get out of the parking lot, though it was difficult to maneuver the car when the tires had been freed of their air. It wasn't as if she was going to complain though. No, instead, she'd just mentally gripe about it.

Again, she ignored his insulting comments. It was just another way of him being able to get to her, and she wasn't going to even respond to someone who was trying to get a rise out of her. Though, with Edward, it was likely too that he couldn't even help being an arrogant ass. It was probably just his nature.

Following the directions that he gave her, Natalie drove the car to the best of her ability with the flat tires. She took the left turn, drove two blocks down, and turned left into the alley as he'd said. Once she arrived in the alley, she parked the car and looked back at him via locking eyes through the rear view window, but still said nothing. Her own way of keeping calm, it would seem.

[Deleted]

He had to appreciate the girl’s silence. At least she had enough of a brain to know she was testing his patience. He heard the awkward sounds of the tires, but he took little note of it. He slashed the tires to prevent her from driving off completely not to prevent them from driving a few blocks. For some reason though having the tires slashed really impaired her driving ability. Was it necessary to drive so slow and force the car in your control? His men had dealt with popped tires all the time, and they never drove like this. Then again, maybe she always drives like a moron. He couldn’t really compare.

When they finally made it to the alleyway he was happy to see his car again, and Robby standing out front with his gun. He had already told Allen to meet them, and with how slow they were going Edward expected him to show up soon. He glanced in the rearview mirror…ah there he is. The big man walked into the alleyway behind her car pulling out his gun from his jacket.

There was no way the girl could run. She was basically trapped, and if she attempted such a flawed plan she would be shot. While the noise would catch attention, they would be gone before the GCPD showed up. Before lifting the gun from her thigh though he stated, “Turn off the car.”

Once the car was turned off he leaned over her and took the keys. He then moved his gun, studying it over to see if she dirtied it in anyway before placing it back in his waistband. “I will tell you now that these men have orders to shot you if you run. Not kill you, but shot you. Trust me being shot is not a pleasant experience,” he said as he opened the door of her car. He grabbed his cane from the backseat then pushed himself out into the alley. “Get out of the car,” he stated to her not shutting his door until she did as told.

“I’m curious dear, are you immune to fear as your supposed superior?” he asked as he waited. His men’s guns trained on her in the car.

[nmartin]

It wasn't so much the fact that Natalie was aware that she was testing his patience. She could assume that, but she didn't care about that. What she cared about was not getting hurt. And if all it took was some silence on her part, then she was all for that. Besides, she didn't talk much to begin with, and even less so when she was as frustrated and annoyed as she was now. Didn't he have other people to annoy? As much as she hated the thought as soon as it popped up, couldn't he be going after, oh, Dr. Crane instead of her, since it was Crane's stuff that he wanted? Of course not. That'd be to simple, and the Riddler always had to complicate things, didn't he? Needlessly complicating everything in his life so that he could solve it in order to boost his ego, in order to feel like he was more intelligent than he really was. At his core he was just an insecure little boy still trying to show off to everyone just how smart he was. It was so pathetic in her eyes.

The slow driving wasn't just annoying to the Riddler, either. If she had it her way, she would've been in the alley in a manner of a minute or less due to how close it actually was to the cafe that she'd been in previously. But, no. The lack of trust had to come up, and he had to ruin her one mode of transportation. Just another thing she had to worry about now also; new tires. Wonderful. Maybe if she cooperated enough he'd be generous and replace them for her.. though she highly doubted that and the very thought was laughable to her after she even considered it. The Riddler.. generous.. to her? Right. No, he wouldn't do that.

She turned off the vehicle like she was told, and after hearing his warning, Natalie simply nodded silently once again, offering no argument in either the verbal or the physical sense. She knew there was no way out of this at the moment, and she definitely wasn't dumb enough to try to escape. She wouldn't have tried that even if the men didn't have guns because she wasn't very physically able. She was fast, and maybe a little agile.. she could do cartwheels and handsprings from gymnastics classes as a young girl, but she couldn't throw punches, and she couldn't defend herself.

When Edward got out of the car and told her to get out as well, she did. Again, no arguments at all, in any sense of the word. However, she didn't look happy about it at all, as would be expected. She shut the door behind her with a bit of a slam, and crossed her arms habitually.

"I guess you'll find out, won't you?" She asked with a tilt of her head and a sort of smart-aleck tone, showing no signs of fear despite his threats, despite the damage to her car, and despite the guns all trained on her. Maybe she did have a sort of immunity to the emotion. Not granted to her by any antidotes that Dr. Crane had been interested in making, but by sheer understanding of the primal forces that drove it, and of the neurological nuances that controlled the responses. Perhaps she actually had such a grasp on the concept of fear through Dr. Crane's teachings that her mind was strong enough to overcome it? Maybe.

[Deleted]

While there was never a period in time where Edward was completely obsessed with the aspect of fear, he definitely could understand Crane’s lure to it. Edward had been constantly underestimated and laughed at in his first year of crime. Other rogues still to this day took him as a joke, not willing to recognize the sheer complexity of his schemes. He had to admit that with the way he dressed and danced around the town his first year, he would have little respect for himself as well. But what did the little respect all come from...answer: it came from a lack of fear. Other criminals believed he was a push over and therefore didn’t fear him. Even when he had his handlings with Lex Luthor he noticed the same lack of fear, but at least coming from Lex, a man with the world as his fingertips, it wasn’t a horrible insult.

However…coming from a pathetic student, who wouldn’t even be on his radar if it weren’t for her relations with Crane, it was worst then just an insult. He frowned at her snarky remark and the calm expression she wore. While he completely agreed with the statement he could not overlook the undertone of sarcasm to it. When she was his age he at least followed the common courtesy of respecting your elders….well no. His elders were unintelligent fools. He couldn’t respect them, but that was beside the point. He smirked pulling his gun back out walking up to the girl trapping her between him and her car. “You’re right. I will find out. I guess the riddle for you is animate hip two?” he asked the riddle bringing the gun right below her collar bone on her shoulder.

He wanted to see if the girl had any reaction or would continue with that calm look. Nina had stayed calm as well when he held her at gunpoint. Her life hadn’t been in danger so she had no reason to fear. Just as Nina, this girl had determined her life wasn’t in danger…but the girl had forgotten one thing.

He pulled the trigger hearing the shot echo in the alley way and the sound of the bullet breaking the glass of the car after it traveled through her skin.

She forgot that while he needed her alive, he did not need her in one piece.

Edward didn’t even notice the blood that had probably splattered back on him because he was still smiling. “Answer: Not at all. Even though you failed your riddle, I believe I’ve solved mine. Everyone is afraid of pain,” he stated watching her comfort the large wound. He did enjoy when he was right.

(OOC:Riddle: it's an anagram that when solved spells out How patient am I?)

[nmartin]

Natalie would be one of the first to admit that she never took 'the Riddler' seriously at all. Though, anyone would be hard pressed to get much of a reaction out of her to do with any of the costumed criminals in Gotham City simply because they never bothered her. Now that she was being bothered by one though.. she could at least learn to not underestimate him in the future. Not that she held any respect for him still. A bit of research on her part and she'd have him psychoanalytically pegged as an intelligent man, though with the state of mind of perhaps an eight year old. Narcissistic, egotistical, arrogant, not to mention crippled. He belonged in one place and one place only: Arkham.

Keeping her calm expression even as he pulled his gun from his waist band, she didn't even look at the weapon and instead glared right at him the entire time, through his riddle and all, as she tried to make sense of it. 'Animate hip two.' It made no sense to her; riddles were never her strong point, especially not when they were given out so lackadaisically, and she had no real time to think about them. As the gun rested on her shoulder, she still didn't look down at it, but in fact smirked a little bit that he was really trying that hard to get a rise out of her.

The fact that he actually pulled the trigger did surprise her, though. She didn't really think he'd hurt her just yet. The pain of the bullet tearing through cloth, skin, muscle, bone, then back through the other side was severe enough for her smirk to disappear and for her eyes to well up with tears, but she was a strong-minded young woman. This was a girl who partook in atrocious experiments on animals on a nightly basis, who studied fear as a part of her career choice, and who also had learned a bit on the performance art of the 'fakirs,' people who often performed outrageous tricks like laying flat on beds of nails, puncturing themselves with long, curved needles and not showing a hint of pain. While she was certainly no expert in the field of not showing pain, she was at least very well versed in not showing fear.

Her right hand reached up to cover the wound, taking in a shaky sort of breath as she calmed herself down. It hurt more than anything she'd ever had the misfortune of experiencing before; she'd never broken a bone, she'd never had any severe sickness, so this was brand new to her. Though her free hand was shaking just like her breath, she still wasn't scared. Just in a lot of pain.

"I'm not immune to it, obviously," She began, blinking a few of the embarrassing tears from her eyes and taking in another sharp breath as she continued to cover the wound, blood from it already covering and running down her palm. "But I'm not afraid of it, or of you." So, it would appear that he didn't actually solve his riddle.

[Deleted]

He had to admit he did enjoy the few tears that escaped her eyes, even though it lacked the usual scream. The anger in her eyes made up for it. He started to whistle as his eyes dropped from her to the gun. Normally, his weapon wouldn’t get dirty because he would shot from far away, but in cases like this blood would drip from the barrel. He pulled out his purple clothe with a question mark from his pants pocket and wiped the blood off before putting it in his waistband.

He found himself stiffen for a moment when the girl started to speak. It wasn’t begging or crying or whimpered out words. It was a full coherent sentence. His eyes shot back up to her, seeing how she was controlling it. He frowned. No respect. What did you have to do in this town to get respect? What a riddle indeed…

He smirked though at her last comment. He leaned down so his face was near her face. He saw the tear soaked cheeks and the intense glare. She might not be afraid, but she definitely was in pain. “My dear, I apologize, I misspoke. You’re correct pain is not the actually fear,” he said bringing his hand to the top of her shoulder putting a small amount of downward pressure on it, “It’s the anticipation of pain that creates fear.” He tightened his fingers into her shoulder, pressing his thumb close to her wound where she was trying to stop the bleeding. “Of course you ignorantly thought I needed you alive and therefore wouldn’t hurt you meaning you had nothing to fear, I am merely trying to correct that disposition,” he stated, pressing his thumb even hard into the wound with a smirk playfully across his face.

If she wanted to disrespect him and preach that she was not afraid of pain, well he would just offer more pain. Again, he is not obsessed with fear. His goal is not to make her frightened, but to train/manipulate her actions so she obeys….preferably without the remarks. If he had to go through the method praise and punishment (emphasis on the punishment) to teach her a lesson he would gladly. He stood straighter yanking her form away from her car and towards his own. Robby back stepped avoiding the place where Edward had just pushed the girl.

“Get her in the car,” Edward ordered Robby before mumbling out irritated, “She’s going to get blood all over my leather seats…dreadful.”

Robby walked up to the girl with his gun as he gently used his free hand to lead her to the car. He was too caring for this work. He even opened the door for her. Edward heard large footsteps behind him. He heard a deep chuckle. “Taking out some sexual frustration, Boss?” Allen commented behind him.

Edward frowned immediately. This is why some rogues love to rotate their men every week, to keep the annoying comments that came when an employee was comfortable out. “It’s been a bad week. I don’t need your remarks as well as the girls,” he huffed out as he walked over to the passenger side of the car. “Robby get the girl to stop bleeding,” he shouted to the boy as he opened the door to get in.

Robby nodded stepping into the back seat with the girl. Allen soon was in the driver’s seat starting the car. Edward pouted like a child. Maybe, he had gone a bit to far, but he was exhausted of women pushing him around and expecting little to no reaction from him. He would not deal with it. At least soon they would be rid of the girl, and the Scarecrow would be in the palm of his hand.

[nmartin]

The very reason that Natalie felt embarrassed by her tears was because she figured the Riddler would enjoy something like that. He was very blatantly trying to cause her pain, so it was obvious. Not giving it too much thought though, she controlled herself, covering the wound up silently as she watched him clean his gun off, which only irritated her more and more. The pain in her shoulder was so intense that her knees buckled just a bit, and she felt herself wanting to sink down to the ground so she could sit and tend to the wound as best she could without any first aid supplies. That didn't happen, though. What did happen was that Edward got right in her face. The urge to maybe spit at him was there, but she wouldn't. Not out of fear of what he'd do, but out of common sense, knowing that he would do something else if she did that.

When his hand touched her shoulder, she took in a light breath to prepare herself for the intense stinging, burning, pressurized pain that she'd feel momentarily. With just a slight push of his thumb, more tears formed in her eyes, but she shut them tightly and clenched her teeth together to stop herself from screaming. The pressure he was applying hurt more than the shot itself, and it took nearly all of her will power to contain her scream. She wouldn't give him all the satisfaction, though. Just to annoy him more.

When he yanked her away from the car, she opened her eyes again and took in another shaky breath, unable to move her injured arm at all. Any slight pressure applied to the top portion of her arm was met with several jolts of severe pain, so the yank itself wasn't pleasant either. Wiping her eyes with her good hand, she pushed her bangs out of her face and shot one of her sharp, icey stares over at the kid, Robby, who seemed to now be in charge of her.

Robby, in her eyes, was no better than the Riddler. She began pondering what his story was.. how he came to be one of Nigma's goons. Truthfully though, she didn't really care all that much. She hated Edward, and she hated him too. As he led her to the car, she felt like she should've done something. Turned his wrist the other way in an attempt to break it or something of that sort. When he opened the door for her, she made sure to glare at him again, wanting to shove his face through the glass. Instead though, she just sat down quickly, but carefully, minding her shoulder as best as she could.

In the back seat, she made the effort to continuously stare at Robby, to try to intimidate him. Her eyes could be pretty scary when she tried. Her gaze only faltered to glance at Edward at the order from him to Robby to stop her bleeding, then it immeditaely fell back on Robby. She leaned back in the seat, all the while still staring at him.

"Don't touch me." She said quietly, moving her hair out of her face again.

[Deleted]

Robby visibly gulped when he slid into the back seat with the girl. He hadn’t seen the Riddler snap over something so small in a long time that only proved to Robby that he should be extra careful to follow orders….but that look.

He had never seen eyes so cold and full of hate. Not even from the few people he had killed. He hadn’t even touched this girl and she looked like she was ready to rip out his heart and squeeze the life out of it. She would probably smile as she did it….and Robby had thought the Riddler was scary. Her cold words directed at him in an order made him go stiff, well except for his left hand that had started to visibly shake. He wished the girl would just close her eyes and then she would look sweet and innocent and not some killing machine. Did the boss really expect him to touch her?

“I would like to stress that this isn’t your car, dear, and therefore you bleeding and ruining my seats is not your choice to make,” Robby heard the Riddler’s cold voice up front before it was directed at him, “Get her cleaned up.”

Robby nodded immediately just out of habit before turning to look back at the girl and her evil look. His head whipped back to the seat in front of him. He just wouldn’t look at her. Robby grabbed the first aid kid on the ground and opened it as the car started. He could do this….he could…she’s just a girl. He had the gun. He could do this.

The Riddler just sat in front with his arms crossed around his chest the Allen drove them out of the alleyway to the place where Natalie would be placed. He didn’t understand why he felt so irritable at the moment. Everything was going his way. He should be pleased, but he couldn’t be. Analyzing it more, it all came down to the fact that the women who had started entering his life continued to infuriate him. Was Nina infuriating him? No…not necessarily….well she wasn’t allowing him to be him….which in a way lacked respect…which…No, he would not analysis this now. He had more important things to do like making sure the brat in the back was staining his seats red.

He looked back at saw Robby slowly trying to bandage the girl but his hands never made it there. Every time Allen made a turn, the boy got forced in that direction from the momentum. Could he not focus? “Robby, you either bandage her up, or I will. And if I do it I will definitely begin to puzzle over the use you hold to me,” he remarked back before turning forward and reaching his hand into his pocket for a lollipop.