Soothsayer ⚡ Barry Allen

Nothing But Time

Andy

Joker had one of his men visit me. It wasn't often that he did this, only when he needed an inside favor or when someone had crossed him. The goon was discreetly describing the man they needed me to kill, but I boredly held the phone to my ear and traced something drawn onto the table with my finger. "Allen, time's up." I looked up as the man in the small booth beside me pushed his chair back, his visitor on the other side of the glass taking a few steps back.

He was only a kid, like me. Shortly cut black hair and brown eyes filled with mild shock; he was inexperienced, untainted, ripe for corruption. As if he felt me watching him, his eyes darted to me, taking in my unruly hair and chapped lips. I flashed him a small smile and a wave but I jolted when the goon in front of me slapped his hand on the glass. "Quit flirting with civilians and listen, damnit." I rolled my eyes and when I returned my eyes to their original focal point I found the boy had gone. Oh well. He was cute. "Did you get any of that?" the man asked impatiently.

"It's going to be a rainy day for some poor bastard," I chuckled before standing up. "I'm ready." I stepped away from the booth and waited as a guard came over and cuffed my hands, a sharpened shiv falling into my fingers. Smirking, I used him as a shield as I carefully slid the plastic into my waistband and started shuffling away when he pushed me forward. I wasn't the only person the Joker had inside. He had turned a few of the guards, such as the one guiding me back to my cell, some of his crew that the Batman or police had rounded up. Some people that weren't even loyal to him had swayed to his will at some point.

Most everyone in here knew me, either for my habit of bending rules and free roaming around Blackgate or causing trouble wherever I could find it. The name Andy was almost a curse in here, like I was Voldemort or something. I loved it. After all, fear of a name only increases fear of the thing itself and that fear made it all the more easier to get my way around here.

When we finally arrived at my cell, the guard unlocked my cuffs and pushed me in before shutting and locking the barred door. With a light sigh, I waited for the guard to leave before stashing the shiv in a safe spot and dropping onto my bed. I grabbed my sketch pad and pencils from under the bed, needing some way to pass time. I hadn't really drawn much until I got locked up, with all this time on my hands it was one of the easiest ways to spend it.

This little sketch started as they mostly always did, me not know what to draw but wanting to draw, and my brain filling in the rest. Some shapes here and there with a brown colored pencil, it usually took a few minutes for the colors to become recognizable. When I finally gained a perspective, they were a pair of eyes, a bit of a wide, shocked look to them. I couldn't get that kid from earlier out of my head, the most prominant feature was the emotions in his eyes. Mentally mapping it out, I put more focus into what I was doing.

I had barely finished the eyes, contemplating the next feature of focus when there was a key in my cell door, the guard pushing a small blonde inside. "Have fun with your new celly." I grinned to myself as the guard relocked the door, the newbie's blue eyes glaring hard at my smile.

"Hiya," I chuckled. I loved it when I got the angry ones. "What's your name?"

"Why should I tell you?" she asked, still staying in her spot.

"Because of all people in prison, you should be on very good terms with your cellmate. That, and I own this place," I added with a giggle. "I'm Andy."

She hesitated for a moment before muttering, "Terra." She had big blue eyes, probably got her out of a lot of things.

"That's a pretty name," I proposed quietly, trying to alleviate the awkward tension. "What was it you did that landed you here?" Moving stiffly, Terra placed her blanket and pillow on the top bunk.

"I betrayed some friends, they sent me here," she explained shortly. "You?"

"Oh, I've done everything under the sun," I chuckled, turning back to my eyes and adding some detail. "I'm just in here for my tattoos." She gave me an odd look so I turned my head and folded my ear, brandishing the green and purple 'HA' hidden behind it. "They took me in for the company I kept, mostly. I'm guessing its the same for you." Terra frowned and started looking around the small concrete walls.

"You're a wonderful artist," she commented, taking note of the random pieces I had hung around the room.

"Thanks. Its a skill I picked up in here." I started drawing his eyebrows, eventually moving onto the bridge of his nose. Deciding to leave it with just this upper, expressive portion of his face, I began really coloring it. "Is there something you'll end up spending your time doing?"

"Planning an escape," she muttered. When my eyes darted to her, she was staring out the window, a pointed look on her face.

"I've tried that, a lot harder than it looks, even with half of the guards under my paw." That caught her attention and she stared at me as she leaned against the wall, an inquisitive air about her.

"How did you manage that?" I grinned and set down the sketch pad, meeting her eyes mischeviously.

"I can talk smoother than a snake can slither, doll face," I chuckled. "I'm real resourceful." Terra scoffed and turned her gaze back to my drawings, particularly on the one of a mad smile, the lipstick extending far over the cheeks and a decorated gun held up to the lips. It was tagged with grafiti known to Joker's crew, one I drew when I started missing my life outside. Long after I recovered from being stabbed and withdrawls, that is. I had since accepted my place here and made the best of it.

"The guard that brought me here said I'd need luck living with you, why?" she asked seriously, only causing my grin to grow.

"I convinced my last celly to kill herself," I shrugged. "Ruined my good blue pencil, too." Her brows pulled together in concern and she looked at me a little differently. "Hey, she ate the last of my goodies, she had it coming," I defended.