Trump Ace

Chapter Nine: Of Professionals and Angles

 AN:

Author: I make nothing from this, except for the occasionally greatly-appreciated review. I own nothing, including Batman Begins—

Kanye West: Imma let you finish, but The Dark Knight was the best Batman film of all time!

Author: That's all very well and good, but I don't own that either.

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"Make it work"

            -Tim Gunn

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             Having finished her tale, Antonia watched Ruby expectantly, waiting for her reaction.

            After taking a few moments to process the new information she had just received, Ruby glanced from Antonia to Kevin, before returning her gaze to Antonia.

            "You're crazy."

            No. No I'm not, a menacing voice replied.

            Alarmed, Antonia glanced around frantically to find the culprit, only to discover that she, Ruby, and Kevin were still the only ones in the room.

            Slowly coming to realize that she was the only one who had heard the voice, she decided it would be in her best interests to not mention anything about it, as she knew that admitting she heard voices would not help her convince Ruby she wasn't crazy.

            "What you said makes sense in theory, but it's such an obvious concept I would presume you aren't the first to think of such a thing. After all, aren't there experts out there who do this sort of thing for a living? If it was that simple, don't you think they would have found out already?" Ruby asked.

            Kevin gave her a thankful nod, happy to see he wasn't the only one left in the world with common sense.

            "But why didn't it work? I think we're missing something here. Even if someone tried and failed to find his identity using Adermatoglyphia, don't you think they would have talked about it somewhere?" Antonia paused, her eyes visibly widening as she was struck with inspiration.

            "Kevin, when did they come to the conclusion that the Joker had the disorder?"

            Kevin scratched the back of his head as he searched his brain for the requested information.

            "Twenty, maybe twenty-five years ago."

            Antonia nodded.

            "Is there any evidence they looked further into it? Did they do any further research with the Joker in any aspect?"

            "Now that you mention it, I don't believe so…" Kevin trailed off, caught up in his own thoughts.

            "Maybe something else happened. Something that dissuade them from continuing their research…" Antonia paused as he figured out how to continue, "Maybe they lost their funding, or a team member died, or something more exciting came along. Yes, we might be heading towards a dead end, but what if we aren't?"

            Kevin seemed begrudgingly interested while Ruby, unsurprisingly, just looked bored.

            "That's wonderful and whatnot, but why should I help you with this? I mean, I have no idea why you're interested in this, but obviously you are, and Crime Boy is, well, Crime Boy. It doesn't take a genius to understand why he'd go for this. But what about me, huh? What do I have to gain?"

            "A chance to show your genius to the world?"

Ruby snorted.

            "I meant realistically."

            "I was being realistic."

            "The odds of me winning the lottery are better," Ruby replied, "And I don't even have a ticket."

            Antonia drummed her fingers nervously against the table while Kevin split his time between glancing at the door and his feet as Ruby regarded both of them with a guarded expression. They were at an impasse, and none of them wanted to make the first move.

            "Alright," Ruby muttered, returning her attention to the microscope, "I'll do it."

            Antonia's head popped up in surprise.

            "Really?" She asked, shocked, not sure whether or not she could believe her own ears.

            "Isn't that what I said?" Ruby responded, not even bothering to turn away from her microscope to face Antonia, "But if I'm spending my time on this, we're not doing it half-ass."

            Antonia nodded enthusiastically, though somewhat confused by the implications of Ruby's statement.

            "Which means were going to have to hit this from a few more angles."

            "Come again?" Antonia asked, her enthusiasm snuffed out by her growing confusion.

            "Your current plan of action assumes he has living descendants that display the trait. It's entirely possible that none of his living relatives have the trait, or, as a matter of fact, that he has no living relatives at all. If we're seriously going to do this, we're going to need a professional."

            "A professional?" Antonia repeated dumbly.

            "We'll need access to archives, files, not-so-public records—things you won't find on any open-access web databases. Things only professionals can find."

            Antonia opened her mouth to speak.

            "But how—"

            "I think this is right up Crime Boy's alley, wouldn't you agree, Novella?"

            Novella? Antonia thought bitterly, Certainly I have more substance than that…

            "Unfortunately, the Joker's a bit of a dead topic in research, has been for a while," Kevin said, throwing in his two cents.

            Ruby bit her lip.

            "When was the last major discovery about the bloke made?"

            "Twenty-five years ago. As far as I know, the discovery of his Adermatoglyphia was the last of the research done on the Joker."

            Ruby bit her lip.

            "Head researcher still alive?"

            Kevin scratched his head.

            "I don't believe so."

            "What about any of his assistants?"

            A triumphant smile quickly spread on Kevin's face.

            "That just might work…"

            Ruby smirked, giving Antonia and Kevin the closest thing to a genuine smile they had seen from the naturally stoic girl.

            "Well then, Penny Dreadful, Should-be Sherlock, I think we have our first step."