Electric Flame

2.23

We'd been rehearsing for about a week, and tonight it was time to show what we had prepared. We'd got it perfect almost every time, except for the first few days of memorizing the song, of course. It was nice that Dick was here undercover, but the outfits never changed. I still felt too violated for my liking, but what else could I do? I needed to keep the job in order to steal information for the Justice League.

Jeez, had they done a number on me. Dick was right.

On the bright side, we'd already discovered that the East Side Dragons were involved in illegal human trafficking. We knew where they did it and why, to make money like any other criminal in Gotham, but we were unsure when, and that was the key to success. None of it mattered unless we figured out when.

The lights dimmed and we each gave each other one last glance before bringing the microphones up to our mouths.

"And now the four merry murderesses of the Gotham City Jail in their rendition of 'The Cell Block Tango'," we all said in unison as we dragged the chairs out onto the stage, taking our places behind them.

"Pop."

"Six."

"Squish."

"Cicero."

"Lipschitz."

We began to sing slowly, but soon picked up the pace, gradually increasing in speed as we sang the verse two more times before hitting the chorus.

"Pop."

"Six."

"Squish."

"Cicero."

"Pop."

"Six."

"Squish."

"Cicero."

We climbed on to the chairs and began to sing in harmony.

"He had it coming. He had it coming. He only had himself to blame. If you'd have been there, if you'd have seen it, I bet ya, you would have done the same."

"Pop."

"Six."

"Squish."

"Cicero."

M'gann was first. She strode into the indecisive spotlight and captured it, stealing it away from the rest of the stage.

"You know how people have these little habits that get you down?" She sang as she leisurely moved forward, the heels of her tall, black stiletto boots clacking against the wooden platform. Then, she stopped. "Like Bernie. Bernie liked to chew gum-- no, not chew, pop! Like, I come home this one day and I'm really irritated and I'm looking for a little bit of sympathy, and there's Bernie, lying on the couch, drinking a beer and chewing-- no, not chewing, poppin'! So, I said to him, I said, 'You pop that gum one more time,' and he did," she pretended to sigh. "So, I took the shotgun off the wall, and I fired two warning shots into his head."

The three of us sitting on our chairs began to sing together in a synchronous rhythm.

"He had it coming. He had it coming. He only had himself to blame. If you'd have been there, if you'd have heard it, I bet ya, you would have done the same."

I took a deep breath and glanced at Dick for reassurance before following the path of the spotlight on the stage.

I began to tell it like a story. "I met Ezekiel Young from Salt Lake City about two years ago. He told me he was single, and we hit it off right away. So, we started living together. He'd go to work, he'd come home, I'd fix him a drink, we'd have dinner." I felt the nerves in my stomach tingle and I found myself staring in Dick's direction which, strangely enough, seemed to calm me down. "Then I found out, single my ass." I picked up my pace as I waltzed around on the platform, my heels doing the exact same thing as M'gann's. Click. Clack. Click. Clack. "Not only was he married-- oh, no-- he had six wives. One of those Mormons, you know? So, that night, when he came home, I fixed him his drink as usual." I stopped completely, a slight smirk tugging at my lips. "You know, some guys just can't hold their arsenic."