The Iceberg Lounge:

"Nervous twitch, Eddie?" Pamela Isley, A.K.A Poison Ivy asked as she leaned out of her booth at the Iceberg Lounge.

"Floe cold. Iceberg. Flightless bird. Penguin," he muttered, looking once again from his watch to the doors of the club.

"He's been doing that for the past fifteen minutes," Jonathan Crane, otherwise known as the Scarecrow said. "Have you developed a new phobia?" The thin man smiled as he said this, leaning closer to Edward.

Impatiently Eddie waved them quiet.

"Our guess is he's waiting for the anagram he's been working on these past two weeks," said Harvey Dent, alias Two Face. "Is that what it is?"

The Riddler leveled a glare at each of them before turning back to the bar and his now watered down scotch on the rocks. His face contorted at the watery concoction and he requested a fresh scotch, no ice.

"Vavoom! Would you look at that!" leered Hugo Strange. The man growled and licked his lips at the sight of the woman who had just entered the club. "To get a night with that one!"

This was the fifth time tonight the man had made that same remark about a woman who had walked into the club. Eddie raised his head from the scotch he was swirling, getting ready to tell to the shorter man to shut the hell up, when he caught sight of whom Hugo had been talking about. His heart skipped a beat and he gulped as he looked up.

"We should've made a bet. Double or nothing," Harvey said, tossing back his double shot of whiskey as he noticed the reaction of his friend.

Dee's face began to light in a smile when she spotted Eddie. It immediately fell when she noticed the amount of eyes on her, especially the lecherous look of the bald man with glasses. Adjusting her wrap to cover herself more, she walked over to the Riddler.

"Sorry I'm late. The taxi got lost," she explained as she tucked her hand into his arm.

"Not a problem. Would you like a drink?" he asked, pulling her to the bar.

"Midori sour, please," said Dee.

"Gonna introduce us to this vivacious vixen?" interrupted Hugo giving another growl and trying to push Edward out of the way.

In one swift movement, the heavy question mark topper on the Riddler's cane came smashing up into Hugo Strange's face. Dee jumped back a step, eyes wide at the sudden attack, bumping into Two Face. When she looked up at him, half of him smiled kindly down at her, the other half sneered. Hugo staggered back, holding his hand up to his bleeding nose. Eddie gave the man a mischievous grin, lifting the cane once more.

"What do you get when you run into Batman? Bumps!" He hit the cowering man over the head with his cane. "What's that thing two feet above your ass? A useless lump!" the Riddler grinned, smacking the man again.

He took a breath in to start another riddle, only to frown when the man turned and ran out of the Lounge, arms over his head. Giving his shoulders a slight shrug, he turned back to Dee and smiled, setting his cane back under the bar. Putting his hand on the small of her back, he brought her forward.

"This is Query. Query, this is Pam, Harvey, and Jonathan."

Dee was suddenly caught up in a mess of introductions and questions from each of the rogues. Eddie put a stop to it with a cutting motion of his hand, pulling a chair out for Dee. She moved to sit down as he took hold of the shawl around her shoulders.

"He isn't coming back, is he?" she asked, tugging it back over herself quickly.

Poison Ivy laughed. "After what Eddie just did to him? You won't see that coward again tonight. You should've hit him harder, Eddie," she said.

"Believe me, I would have liked nothing better," he grumbled, folding the wrap across the back of Dee's bar chair. He leaned across her to pick his new scotch up, more to catch a whiff of the peach scent she wore than anything.

Ivy came up to the bar, leaning against it next to Dee. She sipped the last of her martini, gesturing for another one. "So you're the girl that's had Eddie's mind occupied recently. How exactly did you two meet?"

Taking a sip of her drink, Dee looked at Eddie, uncertain if she should tell them.

"That museum job I pulled a couple weeks back. She appeared out of nowhere, just like Batman did," said the Riddler, nonchalantly.

"The museum? Don't tell me you were one of the socialites there?" Jonathan asked.

"No. I was actually working on something in another wing of the museum."

"Oh, so you were an employee there?" asked Pam.

"Er, no. I was trying to break into a safe in one of the storage areas. My partner went a little nuts on me and tried to squish me beneath one of those huge glass display cases," explained Dee, wishing she could reach out and take Eddie's hand without looking nervous. Being the object of interest like this was new to her. "Who was that guy that you hit anyway, Eddie?"

Edward rolled his eyes. "That was Hugo Strange. The man had it coming, Kitten."

Kitten, mouthed the others, exchanging glances.

The look went unnoticed by the two, and the Riddler continued. "Hugo is a depraved man who has an unhealthy fixation on Batman. His favorite hobby is dressing up mannequins and... You don't want or need to know. Just avoid him like the plague," he said, giving her arm a reassuring pat.

"What were you after in the museum?" Harvey asked.

"What was I after? A little bit of this, a lot of that," Dee shrugged. She was unwilling to tell them the truth. "I didn't get it. Had everything ready to go on the safe when the display came down. I only just managed to get out of the way."

"Come over and sit with me for a bit. Let's talk girl talk and leave the men to their talk," Ivy said, slipping her arm into the crook of Dee's and giving it a tug.

Obliging her, Dee slipped out of the chair, passing Eddie. His hand smoothed across her belly as she pressed past him to follow the other red head. She managed not to tremble at the touch, keeping her drink in her glass as she walked to the vegetation-covered booth.

"What's your real name?" Pam asked before Dee was even settled.

"Dee. But you can call me Query. I prefer that."

"He give you that name?"

"The day after we met. I kind of left the museum with him to get away from my partner. It was safer than trying to go back to my boss. Ended up sleeping at his place the night of the museum heist and he took me back the next day."

"They didn't mind that you left them to work for him?" asked Ivy with a grin.

"No choice, really. With what happened, it wasn't safe for me to stay with them anymore, least it happen again. Not that my partner ever showed up again. For all I know, she's dead," Dee said.

Poison Ivy nodded. "So?"

"So what?"

"What's with him calling you 'Kitten'? I thought he named you 'Query'."

"I dunno. Years ago when I first saw him he called me 'Kitten'."

"Years ago? You just told us that you met at the museum," frowned the woman.

"Oh, we did. But we had run into each other years before when he was working at a carnival. He used to run..."

"A puzzle booth. Yeah, we all know the story. So you're the one he mutters about when you get him good and drunk," she smirked.

Back over at the bar the men were having their own conversation. Crane and Dent were taking turns slapping Edward on the back in congratulations for his catch.

"You call her 'Kitten' for her bedroom manners, or you have some hidden thing for Selina?" Two Face leered.

A sharp elbow nudged him in the ribs, followed by a cackle. "Tell us, Eddie," the Scarecrow said.

"Actually, none of the above, gentlemen," he replied, tugging at the knot in his tie. Why did they have to bring up her and bed? "I call her that for other reasons."

"She catty then? Just what we need, another feline in the group," muttered Harvey.

He narrowed his eyes and set his face in a glower as he faced forward. "So far she's been nothing but reasonable and level headed." He hated that. Couldn't the woman just lose herself for one night? Didn't she know what she was doing to him?

"Sounds like someone hasn't rolled in the straw yet," mocked Crane. "What's wrong, Eddie? She not interested in your..."

"Hey, Jonathan, what ever happened to Spook? Hm? Weren't you trying to get her into the hayloft to look at your scythe?" retorted the Riddler with a snarl.

The thin man went quiet and scowled, scooping up his bourbon.

Two Face chuckled at the swipe before asking, "So really, Eddie. What's she done to earn the name?"

Draining his scotch, the Riddler got another, drinking that before he turned to look at the booth where Dee had disappeared. A curtain of trailing foliage covered the occupants from view. "Did I ever tell you about my time working in the carnival?"

Groans came from the two men, along with an "Only every time we got you piss drunk."

"That girl. The one that figured out the cheat. When we bantered, I called her 'Kitten'." He waved his empty glass at the booth. "That's her."

Just before the two could react, an ear-shattering giggle peeled through the club. Running down to Ivy's booth was Harley Quinn, head tassels smoking and eyes wide. Without hesitation, she dove behind the living curtain.

"Lemmie in! Lemmie in!" she shrieked.

"Harley! C'mon out, Pooh!" the Joker cackled, strolling into the bar, waving a flamethrower.
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