longer.blue

[{I stepped carefully as I reached the Iceberg Lounge. A mix of carpet and ice. My boots slip and slide with each step making my entrance a little less graceful than I intended. My bat became a cane to help me through to the main room. Laughter and clinking of glasses echoed through the room as classical music played. “ℍ𝕒𝕣𝕝𝕖𝕪! 𝕎𝕙𝕒𝕥 𝕒 𝕡𝕝𝕖𝕒𝕤𝕒𝕟𝕥 𝕤𝕦𝕣𝕡𝕣𝕚𝕤𝕖! 𝕐𝕠𝕦’𝕣𝕖 𝕤𝕥𝕚𝕝𝕝 𝕒𝕝𝕚𝕧𝕖!” I went to wave and the end of the bat slid out from under me, sending me to land on my stomach with a smack of my face to the floor. I attempted to pick myself up and slid down the carpeted walkway to the table Penguin sat. I hissed at the pain of the tiny ice chips planted into the skin of cheeks and forehead. I groan and reach for the surface of the tabletop, sliding my knees beneath me slowly to pull myself up from the floor. Elbow hooked to the edge as I hoisted and brought myself to fall into the booth. The faint smell of iron and trail of liquid down my cheek. I raised a hand to pluck an ice chip from my cheek with a swipe of my fingertip. “𝕎𝕖𝕝𝕝, 𝕝𝕠𝕠𝕜 𝕒𝕥 𝕪𝕠𝕦, 𝕡𝕦𝕥𝕥𝕚𝕟𝕘 𝕠𝕟 𝕒 𝕡𝕖𝕣𝕗𝕠𝕣𝕞𝕒𝕟𝕔𝕖 𝕗𝕠𝕣 𝕞𝕖, 𝕨𝕙𝕒𝕥 𝕓𝕣𝕚𝕟𝕘𝕤 𝕪𝕠𝕦 𝕙𝕖𝕣𝕖? 𝕐𝕠𝕦 𝕕𝕖𝕔𝕚𝕕𝕖 𝕥𝕠 𝕝𝕖𝕒𝕧𝕖 𝕥𝕙𝕖 𝕔𝕝𝕠𝕨𝕟 𝕥𝕠 𝕓𝕖 𝕨𝕚𝕥𝕙 𝕒 𝕣𝕖𝕒𝕝 𝕞𝕒𝕟?” A snort left my lips, becoming louder and more maniacal.}] 𝒜 𝓇𝑒𝒶𝓁 𝓂𝒶𝓃?! 𝒢𝑜𝓃𝓃𝒶 𝓂𝒶𝓀𝑒 𝓂𝑒 𝓈𝓅𝓁𝒾𝓉 𝓂𝓎 𝓈𝒾𝒹𝑒 𝒶𝓉 𝓉𝒽𝒶𝓉 𝑜𝓃𝑒, 𝒹𝑜 𝓎𝑜𝓊 𝒹𝑜 𝓈𝓉𝒶𝓃𝒹 𝓊𝓅, 𝓉𝒽𝒶𝓉..𝓉𝒽𝒶𝓉 𝓌𝒶𝓈 𝒶 𝑔𝑜𝑜𝒹 𝒿𝑜𝓀𝑒. 𝒩𝑜, 𝐼’𝓂 𝒶𝒸𝓉𝓊𝒶𝓁𝓁𝓎 𝓁𝑜𝑜𝓀𝒾𝓃𝑔 𝒻𝑜𝓇 𝓉𝒽𝑒 𝒸𝓁𝑜𝓌𝓃. 𝐻𝒶𝓅𝓅𝑒𝓃 𝓉𝑜 𝓀𝓃𝑜𝓌 𝓌𝒽𝑒𝓇𝑒 𝒽𝑒’𝓈 𝒽𝒾𝒹𝒾𝓃𝑔 𝓉𝒽𝑒𝓈𝑒 𝒹𝒶𝓎𝓈? [{I straighten in my seat, bringing my arm to rest at the top of the booth, my body slides, causing me to lose the calm, cool, and relaxed pose I had tried to hold. “ℕ𝕠𝕨 𝕨𝕙𝕪 𝕨𝕠𝕦𝕝𝕕 𝕪𝕠𝕦 𝕥𝕙𝕚𝕟𝕜 𝕀 𝕨𝕠𝕦𝕝𝕕 𝕜𝕖𝕖𝕡 𝕥𝕣𝕒𝕔𝕜 𝕠𝕗 𝕥𝕙𝕒𝕥 𝕙𝕒𝕔𝕜? 𝕀’𝕧𝕖 𝕘𝕠𝕥 𝕞𝕠𝕣𝕖 𝕚𝕞𝕡𝕠𝕣𝕥𝕒𝕟𝕥 𝕥𝕙𝕚𝕟𝕘𝕤 𝕘𝕠𝕚𝕟𝕘 𝕠𝕟 𝕗𝕠𝕣 𝕞𝕪𝕤𝕖𝕝𝕗.” I brought a hand to my lips and instantly dropped it to the corner of the table to keep from sliding off.}] 𝐼𝓂𝓅𝑜𝓇𝓉𝒶𝓃𝓉 𝓉𝒽𝒾𝓃𝑔𝓈..𝓇𝒾𝑔𝒽𝓉, 𝓈𝒾𝓉𝓉𝒾𝓃𝑔 𝒽𝑒𝓇𝑒 𝒾𝓃 𝓎𝑜𝓊𝓇 𝓁𝒾𝓉𝓉𝓁𝑒 𝒾𝒸𝑒 𝓅𝒶𝓁𝒶𝒸𝑒, 𝓌𝒾𝓉𝒽 𝓎𝑜𝓊𝓇 𝓁𝒾𝓉𝓉𝓁𝑒 𝓌𝒶𝒹𝒹𝓁𝒾𝓃𝑔 𝓈𝑒𝓁𝒻, 𝓉𝒶𝓁𝓀𝒾𝓃𝑔 𝒶𝒷𝑜𝓊𝓉 𝒾𝒸𝑒 𝒶𝓃𝒹 𝓂𝓊𝓃𝒸𝒽𝒾𝓃𝑔 𝒻𝒾𝓈𝒽..𝓈𝑜 𝒾𝓂𝓅𝑜𝓇𝓉𝒶𝓃𝓉 [{I felt the sharp poke to my side as I slid right off the edge of the booth. “𝕐𝕖𝕤, 𝕡𝕣𝕖𝕔𝕚𝕤𝕖𝕝𝕪. 𝔾𝕠𝕠𝕕 𝕝𝕦𝕔𝕜 𝕗𝕚𝕟𝕕𝕚𝕟𝕘 𝕙𝕚𝕞, 𝕀’𝕧𝕖 𝕟𝕠𝕥 𝕤𝕖𝕖𝕟 𝕙𝕚𝕞 𝕒𝕣𝕠𝕦𝕟𝕕 𝔾𝕠𝕥𝕙𝕒𝕞 𝕤𝕚𝕟𝕔𝕖 𝕙𝕖 𝕓𝕣𝕠𝕜𝕖 𝕪𝕠𝕦 𝕠𝕦𝕥 𝕠𝕗 𝔸𝕣𝕜𝕙𝕒𝕞. ℙ𝕣𝕠𝕓𝕒𝕓𝕝𝕪 𝕤𝕔𝕒𝕣𝕖𝕕 𝕥𝕙𝕖 𝔹𝕒𝕥 𝕝𝕠𝕤𝕖𝕣𝕤 𝕨𝕠𝕦𝕝𝕕 𝕗𝕚𝕟𝕕 𝕙𝕚𝕞.” Probably was or he was plotting and planning his next attempt at finding me. Probably waiting for… fuck. I knew where he was hiding. I slapped my palms against the frozen carpet, frustrated that I had wasted my time when I should’ve started there first. I pushed myself to my feet, wobbling for balance. It took a moment for me to stabilize myself to stand fully.}] 𝐸𝓃𝒿𝑜𝓎 𝓎𝑜𝓊𝓇 𝓋𝑒𝓇𝓎 𝒾𝓂𝓅𝑜𝓇𝓉𝒶𝓃𝓉.. 𝐼𝒸𝑒. [{I moved my feet in a skating motion, and found the ability to actually move about the space. I pushed forward, letting the heel end of my boots scrape and cut through the icy surface until I reached the exit. I push the end of my bat into one of the goons blocking my way. Slamming it down against his back when he bent over. I nodded back at Penguin before I stepped back into the grimy streets of Gotham, the ice coating my boots becoming slush with each step into the warm air. I needed to go back. Back to Arkham but this time on my terms.}]