The morning Sun is shining brightly through the window as Pandemonia flips through her photo album. She sits comfortably on the couch that, only yesterday, the gorgeous Flash, had sat on. She pauses as Dystopia walks in, a tray of tea on her arm. She hands Pandemonia a newspaper and sets the tea tray on the table in front of her.
"Thank you dear. Is Chaos almost finished with breakfast?" Pandemonia asks with a smile as she puts down the photo album and picks up the Central City Picture News.
"Not just yet. And I wanted to apologize, again, for the distraction during last night's visit with Mister Flash." Dystopia bows and leaves the room to check on breakfast for her mistress.
Pandemonia searches through the paper, scanning quickly through the obituaries. As Chaos enters the room with a plate covered with an omelet, bacon, and sausage, she says, smiling, "Thank you."
"Is our friend gone then?" Chaos asks as he sets the food in front of her.
"No, thankfully. I am sure she is still causing problems for the physicians at that joke of a hospital." She laughs lightly and takes a bite out of a sausage.
"If you don't mind me asking, why did you let Flash go last night? Won't he cause more problems?" Chaos frowns worriedly.
"Oh my dear Chaos. What fun is the game if there is no one to play with?" She smiles at him and waves him off. Both he and Dystopia leave their leader in the room, alone.
"Oh my little cherry," she whispers as she flips back to the front page of the newspaper. She caresses the picture of the Flash that graces the page. "Where do you run off to, I wonder."
Just then, the text beneath the picture catches her eye. Particularly the byline. The name: Iris West...Pandemonia is sure she's seen the name before. Putting the paper aside for a moment, she picks up the photo album again. Determinedly, she flips to the pages she is looking for, the ones containing all the articles written about the Flash in the last year.
Iris West. Iris West. Iris West.
Indeed, all of the articles, every single one, were written by this "Iris West." As a manic grin crosses her face, she traces the name again.
"Iris West...What can I do with you?"
Barry is enjoying himself, sitting with Iris at their normal table in Jitters. His trip to Gotham (which lasted a few days) was informative, to say the least. To learn that Pandemonia not only had a connection to Joker, but that one of Joker's thugs had told Batman -after a process that Barry had not wanted to be privy to- that Joker considered her...family.
Which was an odd concept, Batman had said. He had never heard of Joker having such an attachment to anyone but Harley. And occasionally, Joker was known to treat her as disposable. So, having someone Joker considered family running around Central, obsessing over the Flash, concerned Barry. It concerned him very greatly.
But for the moment, Barry has put all thoughts of Gotham out of his mind and is simply enjoying the conversation.
"...So, then I smacked his stupid wig off his head and everyone in the office laughed." Iris finishes her story with a laugh and Barry smiles brightly at her.
"Sounds like you got him back for that comment about the Flash," Barry comments with a wink.
"Yeah, I can't believe he said that, especially during the first live phone interview with the Flash!" She growls and then stands to get another cup of coffee. "Do you want another one?"
"Yes, please. Tea, with milk and sugar." Barry waves at his mug and she picks it up and takes it with her.
"Tea...?" She mutters under her breath as she walks away. "He hates tea."
Barry leans back in his chair, and does a quick scan of the room and the street outside. He is simply doing this out of habit. But something he sees interests him.
"Hey Iris," he says when she comes back. "Do you see that Ice Cream truck?"
"Oh, yeah. Those have been around for the last couple days. They have been kinda popping up everywhere. The ice cream is actually quite good."
Barry looks at Iris, cocking one eyebrow. "Really?"
"What?" She responds, annoyed and entertained at the same time. "I like ice cream. Anyway, they've gotten really popular and, to be honest, I'm not surprised that there is one here. They get a lot of customers from Jitters, especially in the evenings."
Barry shakes his head at her and leans forward to drink his tea. Taking a sip, he smacks his lips together. "Not enough sugar!" He exclaims.
Iris cautiously watches him as he adds spoon after spoon of sugar into his tea. "Uh, Barry?" She asks hesitantly.
"What?" He responds absentmindedly, stirring his drink and taking a sip. "Ah much better."
"You almost have more sugar than tea. And speaking of tea, when did you start drinking that? I remember in High School when I tried to get you started on it, you threw your cup across the room and spat it all over the table."
Barry blinks, stunned. "Did I really do that? Huh. Guess my taste buds changed or something."
"When did you even try tea?" Iris laughs as she shakes her head. She drinks her Flash coffee.
"Uhm..." Barry hesitates. However, before he has to reply, two men in ill-fitting suits, wearing top hats (of all things!) burst into Jitters. They walk straight towards Barry and Iris, stopping when they reach their table.
"Something I can help you with?" Iris asks, taken aback as the tall men lean towards them with very interesting expressions on their face. For a moment, Barry wracks his brain for where he had seen that manic smile before. Then, the men yell. In unison.
"IT'S HAPPY TIME. IT'S HAPPY TIME. WE FOUND THE FLOWER GIRL." They wave their arms and shout for another few seconds before Barry notices their hands. At first he sees the duct tape, and then, as he sees the long silver tubes gripped in their right hands. Lastly, he notices the bright red buttons as the men move their thumbs.
Barry has less than three seconds to react. And with those three seconds, he wraps his arm around Iris's waist and has her outside and behind a car as a loud BANG! issues from behind them.
