You finally came to see me

After Harley Quinn left, Ririko received her "gifts" that evening.

A white plastic bottle of conditioner and a jar of daisy-scented body lotion, which smelled a little like Harley.

There was also a black plastic comb with rounded teeth that wouldn't snag and break her hair.

Ririko set the conditioner beside the sink and washed her hair again. She used a full double dose, slipping her fingers through the strands and working it in inch by inch, from roots to ends.

Arkham's hot water supply was unreliable, and the water ran cool. But cool water was good for her hair. It closed the cuticles, letting its shine come through from within.

Once she finished washing, she wrapped her hair in a towel, wrung it out, and let it loose.

With her wet hair draped over her shoulders, she sat on the edge of the bed, her back to the camera in the corner of the ceiling, and began tending to it.

She held the comb in her palm and slowly drew it through her hair, stroke after stroke.

Her movements were slow, each one resembling some solemn, ritualized performance.

She knew Hugo was watching her.

The camera sat in the corner of the ceiling, its little red light glowing.

The subtle sensation of being watched made the back of her neck tighten slightly, raising a fine, invisible layer of goose bumps on her skin.

She tilted her head, letting her long hair slide off her right shoulder and fall over her chest.

With her fingertips, she tucked a still-dripping lock behind her ear, exposing the curve that ran from her jaw to her collarbone, its pale skin made even whiter by her wet hair.

She turned her face toward the blank wall, a faint smile on her lips.

Every movement had been precisely calculated.

Ririko had a little plan in mind.

Ever since that conversation with Harley, she had made a point of chatting with her a little longer during her daily checkups.

Harley had become more patient, too, listening as she talked about little things tucked away in Gotham's forgotten corners.

Which clothing store had nice secondhand clothes, for instance, or which fast-food place offered dirt-cheap deals on Thursdays...

These trifles meant nothing to Harley, but they were Ririko's top priority.

They had also brought obvious benefits.

Harley's infatuation score had risen from 11 to 18. Ririko's oatmeal breakfast now came with fried eggs and bacon, and her bland tea had been replaced by a rich cup of freshly ground coffee with a nutty finish.

As for Hugo Strange, he hadn't appeared before her in three days.

And Jerome next door had been taken away by several burly men again. The system panel read "Outside effective range."

But Ririko didn't care about Jerome in the slightest.

Her focus now was on Harley and Hugo. They would determine whether she could escape from Arkham.

Two to four in the afternoon was "free time."

Ririko walked down the corridor. Unlike the genuinely insane patients, she had no interest in drawing or spelling cards.

She went to the far end of the recreation room, where there was a floor-to-ceiling window.

Ririko moved a chair beside it and basked in the sunlight streaming through.

It couldn't compare to Wayne Tower, but sunbathing cost nothing and helped her relax.

The sunlight was lovely today, a rare sight in Gotham.

She narrowed her eye and tipped her head back slightly, letting the light fall on the right half of her face, where no gauze covered it.

Her hair gleamed in the light like a curtain of black, shimmering water.

Suddenly, she keenly registered that the fat guard in the dark blue uniform had been standing at the other end of the recreation room for a long time.

Those little eyes buried in fat were fixed on the window.

He was ogling her.

Her hair, her neck, the pale skin lit by the sun, and then lower, lower still...

His tongue poked between his lips and licked his dry upper lip.

Ririko's right eye narrowed slightly.

She hated that kind of stare, but surely someone else disliked it just as much.

Hugo Strange was probably watching this corner right now.

The corners of her mouth lifted slightly.

She turned her head and glanced sideways from beneath her lashes, her gaze drifting toward the fat guard like a strand of spider silk caught in the wind, light yet strong.

Then, with a sly smile like a cat toying with its prey, she raised her right hand and crooked a finger.

The fat guard abruptly went rigid.

His first reaction was to look left and right, checking whether she was beckoning to someone else.

There were only muttering lunatics in the recreation room. No one was paying attention to this corner.

He straightened, tugged down the hem of his uniform, then strode over to Ririko.

From this distance, Ririko could make out every detail of his face-

His red, bulbous nose, the oversized pores beside his nostrils, the dry flakes of dead skin on his lips, and those little eyes buried in fat.

"You called me?" he asked.

Ririko tipped her head up and slowly swept a lock of long hair behind her shoulder.

"Are you interested in me?"

The fat guard froze for a moment, then smiled.

The smile made his double chin wobble like jelly.

He displayed the badge he was so proud of.

"I'm the captain of the guards... I call the shots on security here."

As he spoke, his gaze shifted from her face to her chest.

"Did you use that body to seduce Dr. Quinn," he asked, slightly breathless, "and get her to give you all those perks?"

Ririko's right eye widened a little. Apparently, this fat pig wasn't entirely stupid.

"So what if I did?" she said casually. "Then what... can you offer me?"

The corners of the fat guard's mouth spread upward.

That smile made his whole face look like a stale meat bun stretched sideways.

"Anything you want, as long as you cooperate."

His voice had become a faint, breathy whisper.

He tilted his head slightly, gesturing toward the dim, windowless corridor beside the recreation room, where miscellaneous clutter was piled up.

"Go over there." His tone was commanding.

A man who thought he held power, using his tiny scrap of authority to order her around.

Ririko watched his impatient eagerness and suddenly laughed.

"Ha ha ha ha-"

The laughter burst from her chest, loud enough to echo throughout the recreation room.

The fat guard's face went from greasy white to liver red.

"What's so funny!"

He was furious, his lips trembling slightly.

Her laughter stopped abruptly.

Her right eye regarded the fat pig coldly, as though he were a prisoner already sentenced to death who didn't yet know it.

The fat guard opened his mouth, about to say something-

A powerful hand reached out from behind him and clamped precisely onto his right shoulder, its force making his body lurch sideways.

"You-"

Before the fat guard could get another word out, another hand reached in from the opposite side. Both hands moved together, wrenching his arms behind his back.

Two special guards had suddenly appeared. They forced him to bend at the waist until his fleshy face nearly touched the recreation room's floor tiles.

"What are you doing-I'm the captain of the guards-I order you-"

A figure in a white coat entered Ririko's field of vision.

She sat in her chair, looking up at the man who stepped out from behind the fat guard.

Hugo wore tinted glasses. His expression was icy, the corners of his mouth turned slightly downward, and his demeanor sent a chill through anyone who saw him.

He looked at the fat guard pinned to the floor and said coldly:

"You dared to prey on a patient. Who gave you the nerve?"

Ririko leaned back against the iron chair, watching the scene with her right eye, a smile on her lips.

She reached up to smooth her long hair, slightly mussed by her laughter, and said as softly as a sigh:

"Professor Strange, you finally came to see me."