The Scarecorw and The Artist Chapter 4

April opened her eyes, feeling her sinus throbbing. She blinked, wooden panels blocked her view, and she realized that she was sitting with her head on a desk.
Being calmer with out the constricting ropes, she sat up. She moved her neck, her shoulders, extended her and bent her abdomen, seeing no damage.
Then she remembered the cold around her ankle. She looked at her foot and her eyes widened at the sight of an iron shackle around her ankle.
She blinked. They had chained her to the table leg. "They chained me…to the table..?" she whispered to herself. She slammed her head down on the desk's hard surface. "I'm chained to a table. I'm kidnapped, chained to a desk, locked in a room, kidnapped." She repeated. "I've been kidnapped, kidnapped by three men…men, INSANE men!"
"Wrong!" A voice said behind her. She whirled around to see who had spoken.
The Riddler sitting crossed legged on the bed, his hands steepled over his cane and his head resting on them. "Insanity, is a mental disability, or disease. I suffer from neither."
April froze, she hadn't even realized her was there. "I…I'm sorr-"
"No, no you're not." He cut her off.
She closed her mouth. She looked around before flicking her eyes back to him. "What am I doing here?"
He straightened up and crossed his arms. "And here I was actually hoping you were smart." He picked a piece of lint off his jacket. "I thought it was rather obvious. You've been kidnapped, so you can't go to the police, possibly to become a hostage, or a distraction."
"I'm not that stupid." She snapped. "I got that much."
"Then what do you need to know?"
"Why haven't you killed me?"
He looked at her. "We need to alive, you would hold no value if you were dead." He shrugged. "Besides the only person who actually wants to kill you is Jon."
April's eyes widened.
"But he won't. I like things neat. He likes thing slightly chaotic, but still with a little bit of order. Jervis also doesn't see any reason to kill you, and all things considered, he has a certain neatness about him to. We want to keep this neat."
She wasn't sure if the words were reassuring or not, so she remained quiet. It was quiet, before "how 'bout a riddle?"
"I'm not very good." She said quietly.
"Then I'll start you off with an easy one." He smirked.
"I have no body, arms or leg, But I have hands. I have no neck or head, but I have a face. I have no mouth, and yet I tell you something that's important. What am I?"
He gestured towards her to answer.
April frowned and repeated the riddle. "What's the important thing?"
The Riddler looked at her. "No hints. Come on, this one is easy."
The room fell into silence.
"I don't know."
He Riddler scowled. "You can't answer it? And you claim to be intelligent."
She hung her head in shame.
"Your turn." He added.
She blinked. "what do you mean?"
"You ask me a riddle."
Her eyes widened. "I don't know any riddles."
He leaned forward. "Surely you know one…"
She thought for a moment. "Ummm…uh…oh! A cowboy rides into town on Friday, he stays three days and yet he leaves on Friday."
"Oh please!" Riddler said throwing his head back. That's easier then the one I gave you." He smirked. "He rode in on a horse and left on the same horse, the horse's name is Friday."
"This is stupid." April muttered.
He looked at her, the smirk quickly disappeared. "What's stupid?"
"Your riddle obsessions! Of all the things to-" She cut herself off, seeing the man seething before her. The grip on his cane was like a vice. He stood up and took a step towards her.
April let out a shriek and curled into a little ball, expecting a blow.
"How dare you" he stopped as the door opened. They both turned to see the Mad hatter enter the room. He took a look at the scene. "Oh good, she's awake. Excellent. Your work is done Eddie, it's my turn to take watch."
The Riddler gave a growl and stormed out the door, slamming it behind him.  
The Hatter watched, before taking his own seat. Instead of taking the Riddler's spot on the bed, he grabbed a chair from another desk and placed it in the middle of the room.
Tired of craning her neck, April picked up her chair and turned it, so that she faced The Hatter.
He looked at her. "And, what, might I ask, got Eddie so rallied?"
April hung her head. "I insulted him and his riddles."
The Hatter waved a dismissive hand. "He'll get over it. You aren't the first and you defiantly aren't the last."
The room fell into silence and The Hatter opened a book that he had brought with him. A few moments later, April felt she had to ask, praying she would get the answers she was looking for.
"Umm…Mr MadHatter, sir?"
He looked up. "Jervis Tetch, call me Jervis.
April blinked in surprise. "Um, ok. Jervis…why am I chained to a table?"
"So you can't leave and tell on us."
"Why don't you just lock the door then?"
"This is Jon's lab. He's constantly in and out. The man has a high patience level, but not even he wants to constantly lock and unlock doors"
April thought for a moment. "Jon. Jonathan Crane? The Scarecrow? You locked me to a table in the lab of the man who wants to kill me!?" She cried.
Jervis simply shrugged. April thought for another moment.
"Why are you here then? I heard you mention it was your turn…what does that mean?" She asked worriedly.
"For the moment, I am to keep an eye on you. After knocking over his mixtures and ruining his work, he has decided that he doesn't trust you alone in his lab.
As you can imagine, he wasn't the happiest man in the world."
April hung her head. "Great. Today just isn't my day."
"Everybody has bad days." Jervis said quietly.
"Yeah." A tear escaped her eye. She tried to wipe it away quickly, but Jervis still saw it. He sat there uncomfortable for a moment, trying to decide what to do with a crying person, before he leaned forward and placed a hand on her shoulder. She flinched.
"There's no need for that." He scolded but handed her a tissue. "And there is no need for tears either."
She took the tissue and wiped her eyes. The room fell into an awkward silence and Jervis leaned back in his chair and opened his book again.
April fidgeted in her chair. What was she supposed to do? What did people who were kidnapped do? She decided on that if she was doing something wrong, someone would eventually let her know. She wiped her eyes again.
Something suddenly occurred to her. "Umm…Jervis?"
"Hmmm?"
"I…" She paused embarrassed. "I…uh. I need to go to the bathroom…"She said quietly.
Jervis's eyes slowly moved from the book to her face. He blinked. "Could you hold it?"
She turned red and looked down.
He closed his eyes. Muttering something about not thinking this completely through. "Alright…"
He stood up taking a small key from his pocket, and unlocked the shackle.
With a death grip on her arm, he opened the door. She took a quick look around.
Wherever thy were hiding, it looked to be a small apartment. All the furniture, mainly being a couch, a chair and a table, looking like they had just been picked up from the dump and hosed off. The only thing that looked semi new, was the small tv, which she guessed was stolen.
The Riddler and the Scarecrow stood in the doorway of what she guessed led into a kitchen, watching as Jervis led her to the washroom.
He at least allowed her privacy as he closed the door, even if she could hear him leaning against it. She quickly did what needed to be done then she looked around the small room, wondering if there was any means of escaping.
There were no windows in the bathroom or lab, there were a few in the living room, but she had gotten a glance out of them and realized that they were much to high for her to jump out.
They would probably lock the door to leave, and even if they didn't, she would still have to get past them.
She thought up scenario after scenario, each one ending with her getting fear gassed. And even if she did get out of the apartment, she didn't know her way around. There were three of them. After playing cat and mouse in the building, there would be two of them waiting for her outside. And there was the ankle shackle.
She sat on edge of the old, disgusting tub and put her head in her hands.
Escape was impossible, she was at the mercy of three lunatics, who had the power to do what they pleased with her.
She shuddered. She looked around the dingy bathroom, the cracked tiles, the light bulb flickered as it painted the room a sickly yellow.
A spider crawled her hand, she shrieked and flicked her wrist. The thing fell to the floor, and she watched as it flailed it's legs, trying to right itself.
Would it crawl back over her when it succeeded? Would it bite her? Kill her with deadly poison? She hated spiders, she was scared of them.
Her eye twitched. She didn't like being scared; she was getting sick of it. The crunch as she squished it; rang in her ears. And then she screamed.
She screamed in anger, fear and stress. A long stream of swears following before she collapsed sobbing to the floor.
She had only sobbed like this once before –when her boyfriend had started hitting her-  gut retching sobs, she didn't care if they could hear her, in the back of her mind she hoped that they did, and that they felt some ounce of humanity in their black hearts to feel bad.
She quieted down, save for a few sobs, she could hear them.
"Is she killing herself?"
"Everything alright?"
"What is she doing in there?"
"She simply said she needed to go to the bathroom…"
"Sounds like someone's murdering her."
There was a pause as someone knocked on the door. "Miss Wesson?" Jervis asked. "Everything alright?"
The door handle turned and the Riddler poked his head in.
April was sure she looked pathetic, curled up on floor, make-up running down her face and her sobbing.
He looked at her uncomfortably. "Why, are you on the floor?"
"I saw a spider." She whispered.
His eyes widened and he slowly backed out of the room. "She's lost it." He muttered.
Jervis walked in and bent down to her level. "Miss Wesson?"
She looked at him and sniffed. "Miss Wesson, I assure you, there is no need to have a break down." He spoke as if talking to a child, and even in her current state. She was able to look at him sceptically.
He looked at her for a moment. "I guarantee it."
She allowed him to grab her arm and lift her to her feet. He walked her past the others and back into the lab. She sat back down and he reapplied the shackle.
Her head hurt, and she felt tired. Jervis flashed her a look of brief sympathy before leaving.
She turned the chair back around to face the table. She put her head down.
A few moments later there was the sound of a chair scraping across the floor.  She looked up and was greeted by The Scarecrow. She gasped.
"You're not about to start crying again are you?" He asked.
She shook her head.
"Good." He turned and sat in the chair that Jervis had sat in, now back at one of the desks.
She turned back to her own desk, listening to the professor tinker with something.
She wondered what she was supposed to do now. She looked around, picking up one of the pieces of paper. She looked it over, making sure there was nothing on it before grabbing one of the many discarded pencils and started doing what she knew.
She started to sketch.