Chapter 18
Plans and Secrets

The arena was a buzz of commotion. The news of a fight had traveled fast in Gotham's underworld, and when they'd heard that the fight would be Hatter against none other than the Joker, the crowds had gathered in the hundreds to whiteness it.

It had been rather rainy when they got into the car that morning, and Lilo had been able to find a green raincoat and a white bucket hat to shield herself from the elements.

Now Lilo stood with Harley, Joker, and the rest, gawking at the amount of people packed into the stadium, which now seemed tiny compared to the populace. She wondered if there were even this many people on their tiny island. Her town alone only had about twelve hundred people, but that was only without the six hundred twenty six experiments.

Everywhere they looked, there were people crowded to buy concessions, making bets on the likely winner, and rushing to find a good seat. People were even wearing what appeared to be Joker masks and big top hats to support their favorite to win the dual. Lilo had to chuckle a bit at the ridiculousness of it all.

Joker smiled. He liked attention and this was getting to be impressive. "Hmm. Quite a party we have going on here."

Lilo could hardly believe the assortment of people in here. Apart from the ordinary looking people, there were numerous characters dressed in strange yet fascinating costumes that looked like they could've come strait from a circus or even a comic book. Lilo's eye caught on a huge man who wore a pro wrestling mask with tubes sticking in his head and pumping some sort of green slime into his brain.

"Are all these people super villains?" She asked with amazement. How could the police department fight so many foes?

"Some," Harley answered from behind her. "Otha's are just wearing threatenin' costumes to try and blend in with the crowd. You've got all kinds of folks in 'ere. Gamblers, smugglers, hired gunmen, con artists. Every low life and dirt bag of the Gotham's underworld could be down here for all we know. Could've sworn I even saw Rupert Thorn in here somewhere."

"I thought he was in Jail." Rocco muttered, scratching his chin.

"Lots of people thought I was in jail a few days ago too, Rocco my man." Joker laughed. They strolled along the crowd. Lilo glanced over at the betting tables and saw bills of cold hard cash poring in by the barrel full. One of Riddler's gang members grinned from ear to ear at the amount of bills that were coming in. She was able catch a few sentences coming off of the betting tables where a number of men and a few women were gambling on the likely victor.

"Man this is great, we should convince them to do this every month."

"All my money is going on the Joker."

"Hatter wouldn't dare cross clown boy if he didn't know he'd win. I'm betting on Jervis."

"Joker all the way!"

"Well I hate him, but there's no way Hatter can beat Joker. 100 on the clown."

There were so many people scrambling to place their bets that the money was rolling in by the wagon full. Some people spotted Joker as he was walking by and took the opportunity to shout out their approval along with their dislike.

"Hey Joker I've got all my money on you."

"You'd better win this, clown boy."

"Hatter's going to wipe the floor with your carcass, you jerk."

"I'm filming this all on tape so I'll always remember today as the day you meet your match."

There were some other phrases spoken during this time that the author does not wish to repeat in this PG telling of the story. Nor does Lilo ever want to recollect. We will merely say that, at this time, a few unknown individuals called the Joker a few very inappropriate names.

"Looks like you have a few admirers." Lilo commented sarcastically, staring behind her as the group filed past.

"Ha, their just angry because I'll always be a better crook than they are."

Lilo was worried by the sound of their threats. Some even sounded as if they'd like to give him a bullet bath. Then a horrible thought entered her mind. "Could they try to kill you, sir? On stage? It would be a perfect chance for them to get even. I mean there's hundreds of people in the stands and you have enough enemies for them all to have their own social security numbers."

Joker looked down, surprised that her voice sounded as if she cared. "Am I to assume that you're worried about me? Your very own kidnapper?"

"Well yeah actually. I may not like you, but I don't hate you enough that I'd wish you to get hurt."

That surprised Joker more than he'd thought it would. Why should she care about him? That's not usually how it worked. She didn't want him to get killed but she didn't want him to get hurt either? Once the shock wore off, Joker laughed. "Thanks for the sentiments, kid. You keep that up and you could get yourself killed someday."

She glared. "Mr. Penguin said as much."

They walked into the arena and Lilo's mouth dropped at the sight of it. There was a giant labyrinth right on the floor of the stadium. It wasn't like a normal maze. There were bridges, pits, underground tunnels, ice ridges; she could even see the makings of what appeared to be booby traps. It was so detailed and so diverse that she couldn't even guess where the end could possibly be.

Would the two men have to find their way through that?

Joker saw her awe. "Impressive, isn't it? And would you believe it took only a single night to grow that."

"But that's not possible with the limited technology and resources available to this society." Lilo stated quickly. "Unless… did Ivy do that?"

"Yup!" Harley chirped hopping up from behind. Her hand swept over the field as she pointed to the separate and definite regions. She went on to explain where each area came from and who supplied the materials. "Red did all of the shrubs just last night. And Frost Freeze did the whole ice wall over there. And Mr. Riddler supplied the booby traps as well as a number of other boys."

"Booby traps? I thought you were going to have a dual."

"We will…" Joker said smiling. "If we happen to run into each other."

She looked back and studied the spectacular maze. It seemed strange that they would rather go to all this trouble than simply set up a boxing ring and watch them both beat the crap out of one another. Yet when she thought of the two doing something like that, it seemed so… for lack of a better term, barbaric. She looked at Mr. Joker and his seemingly suave disposition. She knew that under the illusion of his purple tux and green waistcoat, he was nothing more than a diabolical crazy-head thug.

"So this is more of a show rather than a real fight." She answered looking Joker in the eye. "Normally, people would just set up a ring and carry on beating the living snot out of their enemy. Why go to all this trouble unless you were just trying to catch attention? And if you did that… then you must have something hidden under your sleeve."

He smiled throwing up his hands in mock surrender. "Ah, so you've caught me, have you? You're pretty sharp kid. Did you really figure all that out by yourself?"

"Well no one could've told me in the last three seconds."

"No, I suppose, not. Now I guess I should be surprised, yet somehow you've quite surprising me." He leaned in, making his voice hushed. "I don't suppose your going to say anything, are you? After all if anything goes wrong today, it's your neck getting hooked—or should I say 'hitched'."

Lilo glared. "And you just remember, if you loose, it's your reputation you'll destroy, not mine."

Joker straitened anger flashing across his face for the briefest moment. Then he smiled. "You certainly know how to play your cards don't you. Someday you may become my ace."

She wasn't quite sure what he meant by that. And to be completely honest, she hoped she would never find out.

Across the room, Hatter grinned just as Joker had done when he saw the crowd. "Perfect," he announced putting his hands on his hips proudly, "not only will I be getting a wife but I'll be getting even more famous."

A timid man carrying a ventriloquist dummy stood beside the Hatter. From the frightened look on his face any idiot could easily tell he definitely did not want to be there. The little wooden doll in his arms was fearsome, sporting a miniature gang boss suit and a long angry scar on the right cheek. The timid man spoke. "Um, Mr. Hatter."

Hatter turned smiling at the unusual pair. "Ah Scarface. Good to see you." He spoke softly as if wary that someone could pop up beside them any minute. "Did you do what I asked?"

The dummy's mouth moved up and down yet the man carrying him was completely quiet. To anyone it appeared that the doll had a complete mind of his own, and really it almost did. "Yeah, Mr. Hat. S'all done just like ya said. The poison's in place as is the rest of the items and ya'll have a free shot at the clown man just like we planned. And speak of the devil..."

They spotted the Joker and his gang coming into the arena at that very minute. Scarface's eyes swiveled over to the kid walking beside Harley. "So that's the girl huh?" He studied her with interest. For as far away as she was he could still distinguish the almond shaped brown eyes, tanned skin, and straight shiny black hair even under the bucket hat. "Pretty cute, though don't you think she's a little young?"

"She'll get older."

Scarface had to admit that once the kid grew up a bit, she would certainly be stunning. Hatter's taste in women was a little questionable even still. He almost pitied the kid. Oh well, better her than him.

"Everything is in place, sir. Just liked you told us." Rocco muttered to his boss.

"Perfect." Joker said. "Even if I have to fight dirty, there's no way I'm letting Mr. Hat take my reputation."

Rocco looked uncertain. "If you don't mind me asking, sir, but what if Hatter's planning the same thing?"

"Well we won't really know until that time, now will we? Although," he reached into his pocket knowingly and withdrew a small vial of green liquid. Poison, Rocco realized as his boss twirled it through his fingers laxly as he continued with a wicked smile, "it is always a good idea to have a back up strategy."

Dib and Stitch stood by each other quietly.

They were outside the arena at that very moment surrounded by shady looking people, who kept their faces covered at all times. A huge man spoke to them at the entrance. He looked scary with all that muscle and Dib was more than certain no tank on earth would be able to stop him if he ever went on a rampage. He was stopping people at the door, like any guard at some popular club. People handed him papers, proving of their arrests and the many dangerous activities they'd helped achieve.

They'd escaped earlier that morning by way of through one of the windows in the fancy guest room. Dib still had the hovercraft, which he'd been able to tuck safely in his pocket thanks to the help of the shrink ray they'd used a few nights ago. It was almost sad how easy it'd been. He'll feel bad for Alfred later when he would discover his guests missing and start to worry about what'd happened to the two kids.

After they left they'd been able to stop at a costume shop and borrow a few items in which to disguise themselves; quite well too if Dib could say so himself. He was dressed in a red trench coat like his black one. But instead of his flawless leather coat, which looked more secret agent or spy, this one looked totally badass. There were buckles and chains and stitched rips all over this thing. In replacement of his normal leather flat boots, he'd gotten big red calf boots with buckles and ties and chains that matched his coat. His pants were black with more pockets and chains than a soldier's backpack and he wore a black shirt which was worn and frayed despite the fact that it was brand new. By the time this was all over, he had more "bling" on him than a jewelry store. He'd have to make sure to stay off any boats.

Along with his attire, he'd also changed his facial features to include more scares and stitches on him than Frankenstein even had. He'd also given himself an eye patch under his glasses and whipped his hair to fall in front of his face like a spiky emo. By the time he was finished, not even Stitch recognized the boy. Dib couldn't argue. When he looked into the mirror he didn't even recognize himself. He'd gone from being a paranormal researcher to a don't-mess-with-me punk. He even looked kinda scary.

Stitch wasn't much different. When they were talking about disguises, they'd decided to dye his fur blond. The combination of the yellow coloring and his natural blue fur resulted in the alien turning an acid green shade. Stitch said it was better than what they'd planned. Now he looked like some mutated green dog lizard, thing. With his fur they also applied fake scars and even some fake piercings in his spade shaped ears.

"Wow!" Dib said when they were done. They both stared into a reflection cast off a window display in Gotham. It was almost scary how different they looked now. "We look… badass!"

Stitch nodded, awed by how dangerous he could end up looking. Now he looked like he would tear anyone's head off if they messed with him. It did not suit him. Would Lilo even recognize them? And what about the agent? Would he even tell it was them?

Now they stood, waiting impatiently to get inside as the line slowly began to move forward. Dib tapped his foot anxiously. "This is taking too long!" He hissed to no one in particular. Stitch seemed to agree, for at that moment he threw the man in front of them aside and began making his way forward. Dib followed uncertainly. He guessed that in order to appear as tough bad guys, costumes wouldn't be enough; they would need to act the part too. Dib took on a strait confident disposition and stomped forward with Stitch as the alien threw one big guy after another out of their way. They needed to appear as dangerous as they could, and that meant that any waiting in line was for wusses. The green alien grabbed the only man left that stood between them and the guard and tossed him out of the way like the others.

Dib and Stitch stood together, staring up at the huge man waiting for entrance. Dib crossed his arms arrogantly and Stitch stood on all fours, hunching his shoulders as if he would headbutt the man.

The giant man didn't look intimidated though his eyebrow did rise in amusement at the unusual pair. He held out his hand. "Papers please."

Dib tossed them at him and the man caught them. "Your name is, Edward?"

Dib cleared his throat and assumed a tough sort of gangster manner that sounded like a 'yo-don't-mess-with-me-cause-I'll-mess-you-up' sort of tone. He also flourished his hands the way the big boys use to do it back in Detroit. Those kinds of guys use to give guys like Dib wedgies all the time. He wasn't sure if he got it right, but it still made him feel tough and bad. "Yo, that's Eddie to you… Dude! Tough Eddie! Ya got dat. Cause I'm tough and I'm Eddie here… so you get Tough Eddie when you put those two together."

His eye brow raised even more. "Right... and that thing with you?"

He pointed condescendingly at the green thing next to the shrimpy boy.

"Dat's X-Ray Hound. He's my mutant."

Stitch's mouth watered and he licked his lips as if getting read to take a big chomp out of the man's leg. The man's eyes widened. "What's wrong with him?"

"Nothing, man. He's just hungry. I want to get him inside and feed him before he starts chewing on someone's leg. So if we can hurry this up…"

The man didn't even look at the papers; their appearance must've looked villainous enough for him. He stepped aside and waved them in, as if he were afraid the hound would start chomping on his own shin any second. They filed in before the guy could change his mind.

Dib tried not to gawk, but it was more trouble to suppress his awe than he would've thought. There were so many people! People he'd only ever imagined. People and villains and bad guys he'd only ever heard of but never seen up close and in real life.

This was so cool!

"Wow!" Stitch said gazing up with equal amazement. Every sense was on full alert in here. So many people. So many voices. So many smells. How would they ever find Lilo in a place like this?

"She'll be the only nice person in here." Dib answered, tapping his chin as he scanned the passing people who were all as different as could be in appearance, but had one crucial detail in common; the plain distinction of criminal indifference. "And since the fight is between Joker and the Hatter, all we have to do is find one of those guys and Lilo will only be a step behind. I sure hope she's not hurt, though."

Stitch reached up and patted his shoulder. "Lilo is strong, and she is smart and… different than regular hostages. She won't be manipulated like other people. She won't be scared if she can help it. She'll be strong… for Puka and for us."

Dib scowled into the treacherous crowd. "I sure hope so. I don't want to think of her afraid."

Stitch marched forward on all fours. "She will be strong and we will find her." And that was a fact.

Lilo followed the group to the edge of the maze where the competitors would be entering in the maze from different entrances. The precession shuffled up on a stage raised above the openings. Two Face stood in the middle and addressed the crowd gathered below. Lilo looked and saw Hatter and his men standing on the far end across from them.

Two Face shouted. "Alright, this fight will take place to determine the fate of Miss. Lilo, whom we all love and respect." There were boos from the crowd and several yells of impatience. Two Face glared dangerously and stomped forward. "Shut up! Anyone I hear complaining will get a lead bath ya got it!" One of his men pulled a machine gun and began firing the small space that separated the air from their heads. Another man pulled out a grenade and bit the pin off, tossing it casually into the crowd. It hit someone's head and people scrambled away in all directions before the BOOM could go off.

Puka cowered behind Lilo's shoulder when fire and dirt rained from the spot it'd landed. Luckily no one was hurt. Even still it had the girl and baby scared. Lilo hoped dearly that she would never have the unluckiness to cross Two Face or any of his impulsive men.

Now that the dual personality man had them all scared, he reverted to his speech. "There, now that I have your attention, the fighting will now take place. Clap if you agree. CLAP NOW!" Everyone clapped in fear that he might toss another grenade and this time it wouldn't miss. He turned to two chairs sitting next to one another on the stage. "Right, now. Competitors put your bets on one of these two chairs here." The bald man on the opposite side came forward holding out what looked like a tiny metal box, which must've held the mysterious item Hatter stole from Joker. Lilo walked forward when he did, swinging her hands carefree and unconcerned that her warden might not triumph in this fight. She was completely positive that he would win; if not for her, then he would win for himself.

Two Face held her chair, in a perfect gentleman gesture. She smiled at him and sat. "Thank you."

But when the bald man reached the other chair the man barked at him angrily. "Set it down looser!" The little man did quickly then ran off the stage in fear.

"Alright if both fighters are satisfied they should shake hands or something."

Joker snorted. "Forget it. Like I said last night, I prefer to keep my gloves clean."

"Likewise." Hatter retorted smirking with a big toothy grin.

Two Face looked annoyed. "Fine let's just get this over with then!"

Hatter walked up to Lilo smiling as if he'd already won. "We'll go to the church as soon as this is over."

Lilo said nothing to that. The only response he got was when Lilo pulled the visor of her bucket hat frankly down past her face so she wouldn't have to look at him.

"Now, now, according to the great Lewis Carroll, "Love is temporary insanity curable by marriage."

"Lewis Carroll didn't say that! That was Ambrose Bierce, stupidhead!"

Lilo's head snapped around, as did several others, to the voice of who'd spoken. That sounded an awful lot like… but could it possibly be? Was Dib and Stitch really here? Her face became hopeful, but then she glanced to the side and saw Joker looking at her. She sobered and looked away. Her ears pricked when she heard Joker whisper to two of his men. She wasn't able to catch what he said.

Hatter looked momentarily embarrassed with the insult and the correction. As he turned from her, all three, Harley, Lilo and Puka, took the opportunity to stick their tongues out at his back. A childish gesture maybe, but heck they were children… well at least Puka and Lilo were. Harley was a kid by heart.

Stitch glared at Dib and the boy's face went red with his outburst. Stitch looked angry enough to pound his face in. Their cover couldn't be blown. Not when they were so close. Where was that agent?

They had to move now. Get another spot or something. They were starting to get strange looks from everyone around them. Stitch took the boy's arm in his stubby hand and pulled him away to another side of the crowd.

They were at the edge when all of a sudden… OHMYGOSH A GIANT MOUTH CAME OUT OF NOWHERE AND ATE DIB!

(Author chuckles cruelly) No I'm just kidding, though it might still happen. What really happens goes like this…

They were at the edge of the crowd when Dib felt a big meaty arm on his shoulder. He looked up to see a tall ugly man with an eye patch and rotten teeth leaning down at him.

"Hey, Kid," He said in a croaky voice spitting a little when he talked. "What's your name? I ain't seen you around here before."

"Well... DUH," Dib said quickly, trying to maintain his rude and criminal disposition even under pressure. "I haven't seen you around here either because this is the first formal fight between two most diabolical criminals of all time." he tried shrugging the man's hand off him as he turned away. "So if you'll excuse me."

The man's hand fell away. "A'right. Can't catch a moth wit only a man I guess."

Both Dib and Stitch froze. So it was him. The agent at last.

Dib turned, a smile on his face. "Well maybe you could... if your eyes were swolen enough."

"Perhaps so. But disembodied 'eads really creep me out."

Okay now there was no way they could deny it. It was definately the guy they were looking for. To anyone else listening in, their conversation was utter nonsence, but they knew exactly what they were talking about.

The agent looked around him and jabbed his thumb to a different corner of the room. The two friends followed the man as he led them away from the crowd.

When they were free of unwanted ears, Dib spoke. "So what should we call you"

"Call me Brox."

Dib nodded in response. He knew the danger of even saying his real name out loud so he gave him their cover names. "I'm Eddie and this is X-Ray hound."

Stitch growled a bit in the back of his throat in greeting.

"So what's the plan?" Dib asked quickly.

"Save yer' friend and git out." Brox said quickly spitting a bit more.

"Well yeah... but elaborately. How are we going to save her."

Brox smiled at him winking to them. "Jus' follow ma lead."

Lilo watched with Harley on a little handheld screen that was used to watch the two as they completed the maze. There were cameras installed all through it with sensors to pick up the challengers progress through. Joker made his way through the maze. It'd started out exciting enough. Joker and Hatter had entered the maze in seperate entrances. Within the first minute, Joker had nearly fallen through a trap door tht held spikes below, and Hatter had ran smack into a lion cage. They'd both made it out okay enough and the only casualty was Hatter's ripped coat.

Right now there wasn't much happening. Joker had managed to get himself pretty lost, and Hatter had his hands full trying to ward off a bee hive he'd been stupid enough to step in. Lilo was bored. As another problem she really needed to use the bathroom. Would anyone mind if she just slipped away for a moment? She tugged on Harley's sleeve.

"Hey, I'm going to use the restroom real quick. I'll be right back."

The woman was too busy watching the screen and only shrugged. "Sure whatever."

Lilo left without anyone stopping her.

She did her buisiness and made to return.

But her mind wasn't on the ground today. She was too busy concentrating on the fight and the possibilities that could ensue. She approached a flight of stairs, but didn't see it in time. Her foot slipped on the first step and she tottered forward. A hand shot out to grab her before she fell and cracked her skull. Lilo was thankfully able to steady herself on the banister before she lost her balance completely. The person in question, however, only managed to loose his own balance and bounced painfully down to the bottom of the stairs.

Lilo rushed forward. "Ohmygosh!" When she reached him, he was lying face down at the very bottom. She shook him and he stirred. When he had the strength to role over, she discovered a funny, little, bald man in big round glasses. She couldn't even see his eyes behind the thick lenses. "Are you okay? Here let me help you." She grabbed his arm and helped him sit up on the bottom step. When he righted himself he looked up at her. A big red cut was slashed above his eyebrow. "Oh… you're bleeding from your forehead!" Lilo cried.

His hand lifted to the cut and withdrew a smear of blood. When he spoke, his voice was timid. "Oh it's really nothing, miss. Honestly I'm…"

Lilo didn't hear him. She dug in her pocket and held something out to him. "Here's my hankie." He looked up at her and all he could do was stare for a moment. Her smile was pure gold and seemed to dim even the brightest star in the sky. He almost didn't even knotice the hairy little thing perched on her shoulders. His eyes were all one her. He liked her smile. It wasn't the kind that he got to see very often when a person smiled just to be kind. It was hard to believe it was all for him, and for a moment all he could do was stare dumbly at her.

She offered the handkerchief to him again and he took it, hesitantly. He looked down and saw pretty pink hibiscus flowers on a tie-dye green background. It was a nice pattern and he hated to stain it with his blood.

"It's alright," she said reading his thoughts from his expression. "I have a dozen more like them." She smiled again and he subconsciously put the rag to his forehead. "You're not hurt anywhere else are you?"

"No… I don't think so, miss." He answered quietly, mopping his head tenderly. In truth his back hurt tremendously and he could feel the effects of a bruise beggining on his knee, but he felt there was no reason to tell her that. It wasn't much of anything anyways.

"Good." She sounded relieved—actually relieved that he hadn't been hurt worse! She sat down next to him and stared at the ceiling. "I'm sorry about that. You tried to save me, didn't you?"

"Yes. I saw you starting to fall miss."

"Thanks for that." She smiled sympathetically "And I'm sorry you fell and cracked you skull on my account."

"It's all right. I apologize for soiling you handkerchief."

"No you don't need to apologize, it's just what anyone else would've done."

There was silence. The man stared sadly at the lax tropical fabric. "No." the man whispered after a moment.

"Huh? I beg your pardon?"

"No one else would've done this."

Lilo almost didn't hear him again. "Of course they…" even as she said it she knew it wasn't true. By the amount of morality these people had, most would've probably stepped on him to get to the concession stand first.

"No they wouldn't." He stared longer at her cloth, lost in his own thoughts. "Well Miss Lilo, you're… kind aren't you?"

"Huh?"

He continued. "Most people ignore me, even my boss, when I'm hurt. They think I'm useless." He looked up at the ceiling in thought. Was this a trick? He sounded completely sincere and Lilo felt a pang of sympathy for him. He looked down again at her handkerchief, speaking lowly. "I've never had anyone do this for me."

Lilo felt she needed to say something. "I didn't do anything much. I really didn't, sir." But the look on his face said much different.

Lilo sighed. She rested her chin in her palms as she stared up at the ceiling. "The thing I don't get is why make such a fuss about getting some no name girl?"

Dummy's head snapped to the side. He looked at her, confused. "Is that how you think of yourself, miss?"

She stared back just as confused that his voice sounded… offended with her statement. "Well… yeah. I mean, I'm not rich, I'm not from a well standing family, and they don't owe anything to any thugs (that I know of) I'm not even popular in my class. What could these people possibly gain by kidnapping me?"

Dummy didn't know a lot about kidnapping, he'd never done one himself. His boss worked mainly in theft and the black market, not ransom. They'd even been able to manage every job without the need to take civilian hostages. Somehow though, he viewed her as much more valuable than any spoiled rich brat. She knew how to talk to people and she saw the value in them even if they couldn't see it themselves. Even in a dummy like him.

"Maybe… it's because you're the only one who had the guts to stand up to one of the toughest of them."

Lilo stared. "I never thought of it like that. Though to be kinda honest, Hatter doesn't seem like one of the toughest at all." She chuckled at the idea of his funny costume and nerdy disposition. "To be honest, when I first saw him, I wasn't sure whether to ask him for his autograph or to call a loony bin. The Mad Hatter has always been my favorite fairytale character. I'm just sorry someone like him feels it necessary to disgrace such a timeless figure. But when he asked me to marry him… ugh! He doesn't even know me! And why is he trying so hard. Marriage shouldn't be some game. You can't turn it on and off like a switch. It's forever and you have to live with that person for the better years of your life."

"You seem to have done a lot of thinking about this miss."

"Well it's a funny thing to think about. If Joker looses, then I'll be engaged to a complete stranger. And Hatter will be engaged to a complete stranger too. Ages aside, we don't even know if we like one another yet. We don't know even the smallest information about the other. I don't know his favorite color, he doesn't know what I'm interested in or any of my hobbies, we don't even know the other's middle name. How can you possibly ever manage to build a relationship without knowing the other's middle name?"

Dummy smiled a bit. "While we on the subject, what's your middle name?"

Lilo smiled coyly. "Well actually I don't really have one."

For a moment ther was silence. It wasn't the awkward sort of silences that followed after a strange conversation. It was a nice silence; a sort of peace that enveloped sometimes when one wanted to contemplate occurences discussed.

Suddenly Dummy found himself breaking the peace. "I'm sorry for following you around…"

"Following me around? You've been following me?"

He sighed. "My boss and Mr. Hatter have a business transaction. "Keep his winnings from becoming damaged" that what he told me."

"Winnings?" Lilo was disgusted. "Is that what he thinks of me? And this is the guy who wants to marry me? What a jerk!"

The man smacked his hand to his mouth and his face went red. "Oops! I wasn't supposed to say that. He seemed to be talking mostly to himself as he repeated his instructions. "Follow her but don't approach her. I sure messed that one up. What should I do? Oh Mr. Scarface is going to have my head for this."

Lilo looked at him. He seemed really distressed by this. He was even sweating by how scared he was. "You work for the puppet guy right?"

"Mr. Scarface, yes." He sounded scared while he said this. She wondered how he could possibly be afraid of himself; the puppet-Mr. Scareface was only the little man talking through a doll. Or maybe it wasn't himself. She'd heard before of multiple personality disorders and assumed this must've been an extreme case of it.

She smiled sympathetically. "He calls you dummy a lot. But what's your real name?"

"Arnold Wesker."

"Where's you boss right now? How is he moving without you, Arnold?"

"He told me to go ahead without him. He said that he wanted to catch up on his beauty sleep so he had me go ahead and film it for him."

That didn't sound right to her. "Wait a minute. Then who's manning the said camera?"

"Rat at the moment. My real job is just to keep an eye on you in case you made a run for it. Though it really wouldn't do you much good."

"Why not?"

"Mr. Hatter has this whole place surrounded by paid off thugs."

Lilo scowled. She'd been afraid of that. She'd been thinking about making a run for it once she had a chance. So much for her escape attempt! "That sounds like something Mr. Joker should be doing. Why is Hatter so concerned if I get away? It's not like I'm his hostage."

"But you will be."

Lilo stared. "Will be? What does that mean?"

"Oops!" His hand smacked to his mouth once more. Apparently he was letting an awful lot slip today. "Oh no I've said too much. Mr. Scarface is gunna kill me for this."

"Wait a minute! Are you saying that Hatter… is gunna cheat?"

He was sweating again and wrung her handkerchief nervously. "Well… I uh…" His hesitation was as good as if he'd admitted it. "It… it's not like that at all."

Lilo gasped. "It is. He is going to cheat!" She found herself on her feet quite suddenly clutching her forehead with growing trepidation. "If he's anything like the rumors I've heard about, then that man is relentless and he's going to win and Joker's going to loose and then I'm gunna half to marry a crazy, criminal, old guy."

A vision darted through her mind of a wedding procession. She was in an ugly white dress with big puffed sleeves carrying a bouquet of roses. She'd always thought roses were kind of a wimpy and snobby flower. (You think plants don't have personalities? Think again.) She liked the tropical ones that grew on her home island, which were cheerful and flightly. But of course, those couldn't be found in this chilly climate. So now she had to settle with dumb ones. The witnesses were made up of most of the villains in Gotham, including Harley and Ivy. Joker was not present.

She stood by Hatter with his big teeth and big top hat just as the priest announced them man and wife, "You may kiss the bride."

"NO! NO I DON'T WANT TO!" Lilo cried, snapping back to glorious reality where she wasn't married to anyone quite yet. "Wait a minute! If he's planning on winning no matter what, then what will happen to Mr. Joker?"

Arnold stuttered with how much he was letting slip today. "W-w-well he's not expected to live i-if Mr. Hatter's plans go... accordingly."

"He's going to be killed?" Lilo's worry wasn't for herself anymore. Due to her uncontrollable habit to protect all people, she sprinted in the direction of the fight. "I have to warn him!"

Arnold followed after her, holding the handkerchief to his bleeding scalp. "You're worried for him? Your kidnapper?" He couldn't believe anyone would ever be worried about that painted slob, much less someone as nice as her.

"Well yeah! He might've kidnapped me, but he's still a person and a human being. I don't want anything lethal to happen to him."

Shouts and cheers roared from the stands in the arena. Lilo doubled her pace. Oh I hope I'm not too late.

She rounded a corner and saw the two fighters had navigated their way through the maze and were fighting in hand-to-hand combat with one another. She saw Hatter swing a saber at Joker but he ducked just before it took his head off. How was Lilo even supposed to warn him from up here? And as an additional problem, she didn't even know how Hatter would strike. Did he have an explosion? A gun? A poisoned dart? Or did he manage to install a few of his own booby traps before anyone even got here?

OH.

MY.

GOSH!

It's been FOREVER since I updated. I am so sorry for the wait you guys but I've been sort of in the middle of other fanfictions right now, plus the last few weeks of school have ben really stressful due to the fact that it's the end of the year and I have all these class finals that I have to pass or else. And to be honest when it comes to other things, fanfiction gets sort of pushed to the side in all the confusion. Till at last the updates gets to be a month to three apart from one another.

I'm really sorry guys! (Hides her face behinds her hands)

But I'm not being totally honest with you by saying this. In truth I've actually had this chapter done a while ago and have just posted it now. The reason for that is because there were a few things I wasn't certain about. I was a bit hesitant to post this cause I wasn't sure if this is where I wanted to take my story or not. Tell me what you guys think. Do you like how it's going?

I'm not making any promises but considering the fact that it's finally summer vacation I might be doing more writing for my fanficts. Can't promis anything. I'll probably be too busy finding a job and working in my mom's daycare to really be doing much writing, but I'll try my best.

P.S. I did fanart for this story. It's just one picture now but hopefully there will be more. It's on the link below. Hopefully that doesn't give too much away for what may happen later on.

.com/?order=11&q=our little girl#/d3hegde