Rebel-Rouser

Eleanor was a smart girl and she always had a plan. If there was one thing her parents taught her it was how to be street smart. Most of the criminals in Gotham were under her father’s control anyway.

However to prove a point he probably turned them all against her; just so she knew that without him she was all alone.

She chuckled, she was all alone.

She could never make friends; she was a bit of a hot commodity so to speak. Everyone in Gotham city had tried to kidnap her at least once and extort her for secrets. She never said anything to anyone despite their methods.

She went through hell and back without her Dad’s help before there was nothing to stop her from doing it now.

With the large amount of cash she received as an ‘allowance’ in hand, she planned to buy a bus ticket out of the city. Halfway to the bus depot she noticed the headlights to a car, she couldn’t make out the model.

Which bummed her out; Her father’s cars weren’t exactly discreet; that wasn’t his style. He had no need, ever, to be inconspicuous, which was why he always got caught and thrown back into Arkham.

She let out a sigh of relief when it dawned on her she wasn’t going to have to bust out her loony old man anymore. Maybe being banished wasn’t such a bad thing after all. She could almost skip the rest of the way to the bus garage she was so happy.

That was until the large car pulled over to the side and revealed Batman. Great.

“Eleanor what are you doing out this late?”

She looked at him and thought of an excuse, “I was asked to get milk.”

“Then why do you have a backpack?”

“Why do you wear a cape?”

He actually chuckled, “Fair enough would you like a ride to the bus stop?”

She hid her surprise well, “I don’t take rides from strangers.”

“I mean no harm but I’m afraid someone else might pick you up if it’s not me…”

“I can take care of myself.”

“No doubt about that with parents like yours…”

“Thanks,” she replied sarcastically, “Can I go now?”

Not really waiting for an answer she began to step around the caped crusader but he held a large arm out blocking her way.

“Are you running away or did Joker throw you out?”

She just looked at him blankly, “Neither just getting milk for mother dearest.”

The man sighed, “Stubborn kid.”

“Nosey old man.”

She turned to go on her merry way but the strong man grabbed her arm and hauled her into the batmobile.

“Hey what gives Bats?”

He let out a grunt, “You sound like your mother.”

“So you’re kidnapping me?”

“I wouldn’t call it kidnapping since you were already intent on leaving the city.”

“Yeah but not with you.”

“So you were running away.”

“Nosey bat.” she turned in her seat with arms crossed over chest looking out the opposite window, “I won’t tell you anything.”

“You don’t have to; just want to make sure you have a place to stay.”

Eleanor snorted, “You just want to taunt my dad by using me. It won’t work.”

“I have no ulterior motives I just want to make sure you’re off the street.”

Eleanor didn’t trust very easily; it was hard to with the life she was raised within.She stared at her father’s own personal joke in silence for a good few minutes. She knew from experience that he wouldn’t kill her, but she knew he wasn’t beyond pumping her for information.

She wouldn’t give anything up for she did feel a sense of loyalty to her parents. While she did resent their recklessness for the most part she was doted on and cared for. Increasingly though tensions began to rise within her odd household.and it could be written off as teenage rebellion but truly her dad was a loony and his tank was literally tipped by a mere coin dropping on the floor.

She had tried multiple times to convince her mother that maybe her dad should stay in Arkham for longer than a month at a time. To you know receive treatment and her mom gave her a look as if she was crazy too. Ultimately accusing her of not loving her father; she obviously did but her parents were raving mad what’s worse is they knew it.

She tapped her fingers along the expensive black interior, “Hey B-man, were you going to crash my party?”

He ignored her and she smirked, “That’s why you were in the neighborhood.”

“I only wanted to drop off a gift of my own…” he said pointing behind his seat to a pretty red and white gift box. She was curious; she had plenty of run-ins with the masked defender before. She was taught to hate him...but she thought he was interesting and he always encouraged her to pick up a book and read despite her circumstances. He didn’t care that she was the daughter of his arch nemesis, he was always very kind to her and very understanding of her normal personality.

She pointed to herself and then back to the gift, “For me?”

He nodded with a hint of a smile.

That was all she needed to tear the box open; inside she found a little gadget. She looked to him in question not wanting to seem ungrateful but she had to ask.

“What is this?”

“Something I invented for you,” he said giving her a sideways glance, “The red button is a silent panic button it will alert me if you should ever need help, the black buttons, each have their own escape mechanism, you can try them, when we arrive if you want to.”

She gave a polite thank you while turning the small, gray, cylinder over in her hands.

“Why would you give something like this to me? Scratch that, why would you want to help someone like me?”

“Someone like you?” he questioned in return and shook his head, “You didn’t get to choose which set of parents to be born to Eleanor, and it’s clear at least to me you don’t have the same mentality as either of them…”

“I know,” she said softly in return still playing with her new gift, “I’m not someone who just wants to create chaos, I’m definitely not a person who likes to follow around their boyfriend or whatever like a lap dog. It’s weird to say that I feel like a weirdo because I’m not a lunatic. I’m just a normal human who wants to do something with science if given the chance.”

“Listen kid, no one’s completely normal but you’ve been exposed to—”

“The highest level of criminal loonies, I know.”

He chuckled, “Exactly so you’ve grown a little desensitized what’s important is you know that you’re not the crazy one.”

She nodded her head feeling this odd pang of guilt for talking ill of her parents with the one person they wanted dead. It’s the first time since this odd exchange that she actually wondered if her parents even cared that she was gone.

Probably not; there was no room to worry about her when she was certain her father had a hidden agenda for the celebration that night.

***

“You couldn’t just buy her a new dress could ya?” Harley squaked out of concern for her daughter, “Not one of these idiots has seen her.”

“Be quiet,” he snapped at her for once in his life feeling a strange sense of guilt, “She’s clever and if there’s anything she’s learned it’s how to take care of herself.”

“But Mr. J one of the guys saw her walkin’ toward the bus depot—”

He turned away from his large window overlooking the city streets; unbeknownst to the others he was silently searching for his little girl out there. Hoping she would return on her own so that he didn’t have to search for her with his resources. He didn’t want to back down, he was not weak and he refused to show his one vulnerability to anyone.

“Which one did she take?”

“That’s the thing she didn’t get on a bus the man at the window said he didn’t even see her…”

His mouth twisted into a demented grimace, “I wonder who would dare…?”

“I know who would puddin’ that horrible Batman!” Harley stomped her foot on the ground as if she were throwing a fit, “He kidnapped our sweet lil’ cupcake.”

Joker just let out a hum as if the sound confirmed Harley’s accusation. The wheels in his head began turning, he didn’t know where the bat slept during the day. He’d have to lure him out somehow. He had a few ideas and when he picked the most entertaining he began to laugh.

“She’ll be back by the end of the week my dear,” he said as he sat down at his desk once again, “Perhaps Bats will finally get my joke.”

“Are you usin’ Eleanor as bait?” she asked angrily, “What if she gets hurt?”

“He won’t touch a hair on her head,” he paused for a second, “But I’m sure he won’t be able to resist for too long he’ll try to get whatever he can out of Ellie...this will be quite fun…”

“What’s the plan Mr. J?”

“We’re going to wait.”

“Wait?” she asked in disbelief, “For what?”

“He’ll come to us his insatiable need to meddle in other people's business is too great. If he thinks we don’t care about Ellie he’ll come running accusing us of bad parenting...of all the things we’ve done...ha ha ha ha...just wonderful.”

“What if he doesn’t?”

He threw a knife from his blazer pocket aiming it so it landed just above her shoulder, she squeaked and let out a quick sorry.

“He will....” He began to hurriedly retreat from the room, “Until then try to keep yourself busy.”