Getting answers from a snake

“The BAT’s here?!” Gasped the group of villains, leaning back in their seats with fright at the sword Damien had pressed up against Scarface’s wooden neck. The music in the Snake’s Den lounge had stopped and all eyes were now on the corner booth were the Batman loomed over the five men menacingly. Some of the nearby patrons screamed, thinking it was the Wolf King in his old suit again, while others were simply terrified of the sight of a black cloaked figure threatening the guests.

“I’m looking for answers dummy, and out of the rest of you, you’re the only one talking.” Damien growled under his breath, pressing the blade up and forcing Scarface’s chin up.

Scrambling out of his chair and fumbling onto his hands and knees before managing to get up, the Condiment King looked over his shoulder with a panicked look in his goggles before he waved off his compatriots, fleeing for the exit.

“Farewell guys, MAYO have better luck that I do!”

“KING! You absolute coward you! The Red Queen will have your head for your duplicity.” Scoffed the Mad Hatter, quickly sitting up in his seat and regretting it when Batman turned his attention to the blue and white clad man trying to make his escape.

Running for the door, the man did not get extremely far when Damien picked up a large glass ashtray from the table and threw it at the man with enough force that it nearly shattered against the back of his head, knocking him out and causing the crowd to scream at the act and move away further. Turning his attention back to the four remaining villains, Batman narrowed his eyes back at Scarface.

“I don’t like repeating myself. There is silver being shipped into New Gotham, probably has been for weeks now, I want to know the supplier and who its going to.” Raising his blade and knicking a chip of wood off Scarface’s chin, Wesker rattled the dummy in his hands slightly to show him acting nervous.

“Now!”

“He… He won’t tell us his name, the mook’s been hush hush the entire time I’z been talkin with’em.” Scarface stuttered, his wooden eyes shifting between the blade and Batman’s eyes. The others did not dare move while there, fearing for their own safety while their leader was being interrogated. “He keeps sayin he’s gonna make things like the good ol days, before all these freaks started comin outta the woodworks.”

“That is enough Batman.”

Looking over his shoulder to the smooth feminine voice calling him out, Damien found the owner of the Snake’s Den lounge along with her two associates behind her. Lamia stood with her arms crossed, her serpentine coils bound around where her feet would have been and hissed in annoyance. The rest of her reptilian staff eyed Batman threateningly, surrounding the booth he held the remaining four villains in place, while two serpent women tended to the unconscious Condiment King on the floor to make sure he was still breathing..

“I do not appreciate uninvited guests to my lounge, especially ones that endanger my customers and guests. You are to leave… Now.”

Dropping Scarface back into the lap of Arnold Wesker and sheathing his blade at his belt, Damien stepped off the table and approached the queen of serpents, matching her gaze and narrowing his eyes as she glared back into his. The rest of the weresnakes hissed and bristled at the man’s audacity to glare up at their queen with contempt, even more so that he was unaffected by her gaze. Glaring down at him, it vexed the serpent queen how this human was not yet a drooling blank eyed doll staring into her eyes.

“Gina Phines, your little tricks wont work on me, I’ve studied enough of you to know what you can and CAN’T do. I’m investigating the murders that have been occurring in the city, do not interfere and I will leave shortly.” Taping a gloved finger near his mask, Damien eyes showed a glassy sheen to them she just now noticed, hinting he was wearing special contact lenses that blocked her ‘special’ abilities.

Breathing in sharply and turning her attention to the four still shivering at the booth, Lamia looked back to Batman and slithered her way over to the table. “Yes… Yes, you will leave.” Looming over Albert Wesker who looked up and nervously repositioned his thick glasses over his nose, Lamia turned her attention to the confused doll and stared into his eyes.

“You will provide the answers this man requires so that he can leave my establishment, open yourself to me, tell me your secrets…”

Shifting his wooden eyes between her and Batman, Scarface chuckled up at Lamia and looked to the others who smiled nervously. “Sorry toots, those mind games don’t work on… Me…” Ignoring the puppet, Lamia turned her attention to the eyes of Wesker, the man blinking stupidly as he stared into her reptilian eyes.

“Tell me.”

“I don’t know his name… He says he’s been here since the beginning, promised that we would get a cut of the city properties once the lycanthrope tribes were driven out… He’s over by the warehouse district, that’s the last place we spoke.” The doll and ventriloquist spoke in unison. “He kept his face hidden the entire time, said if we played along, I could get the dock front again.”

Pulling away from the confused ventriloquist, Lamia then stared into the eyes of the others at the table, their bodies going stiff as they were caught in her intense gaze. “Now you… What do YOU plan on doing in this city with the information you have been given? What are your plans?”

Unable to stop themselves, the three remaining villains at the table blurted out their plans for Gotham for all to hear.

“I… I plan on a merry tea party in the heart of the woods of Gotham, yes teatime at 6 o clock every clock… I was going to find my own march hare and door mouse from the locals and ALICE… Yes… Every tea party needs an Alice… There’s bound to be one I could drug…”

“Halloween is coming up, and what follows is Día de Muertos; the day of the dead… And what a day it will be when the celebratory chocolates will be spiked with hemlock… Yes, many dead for that day…”

“I was going to go home… I have chili in the slow cooker, and maybe design a kite, a GREEN kite… the weather report said it was going to be windy on Thursday…”

Lamia turned away from the four at the table to look over her shoulder and give Damien a stone-cold look of her eyes. She lifted her chin imperiously and crossed her arms under her chest as she moved away from the table and slithered towards the young man.

“Will that suffice?”

Crossing his arms and letting his cape drape over his shoulders, Batman shared in the wereserpent’s expression, turning his attention to her guards and secretaries as they surrounded the man and back to the D-listers at the booth table. Looking back up to Lamia, Damian nodded.

“I will take my leave then.”

Making his way to exit the building from the back, the serpents closed in and blocked Damien’s attempt to leave through the back door. Looking back at the club’s owner, Lamia pointed towards the front door instead.

“YOU are hereby banned from this establishment, if you want out, go out through the front door!”

Narrowing his eyes, Damien looked around to find himself surrounded by her guards. He had no doubt he could take on all of them, but he was not here for a fight, he got what he needed. Slowly nodding back to Lamia, Batman made his way towards the front entrance, on his way there, Damien eyed the guard at the door who hissed a forked tongue at the Dark Knight and quickly closed the door behind him when he exited, giving everyone else a sigh of relief now that he was gone.

Turning her attention back to the remaining supervillains at the booth, Lamia slithered back to the table and glared down at them, her expression remaining cold and aloof. “YOU are also banned, get out before I call the local authorities on you.”

Turning to look at each other nervously, the villains quickly got out of the booth seating and made their way to the exit. The only one who did not pull himself free of the seating was Kite Man who sat with his hand up as if asking permission to speak.

“What?”

“Does that include me?”

Folding her hands in front of her and changing her cold expression to a cordial smile, Lamia shook her head. “Oh, my no, you can stay, in fact, tonight’s drinks are on the house for you. Would you like some company while we refresh your drink?” Snapping her fingers and looking over her shoulder, Lamia’s two secretaries reverted to their human forms and slinked past their master to take seats at either side of the man at the booth.

“Kite man! Hell ya!”