Fangirls | Jonathan Crane, Edward Nigma

Chapter One - Home Is Where The Heart Is

Chapter One – Home Is Where The Heart Is

Taylor blinked her eyes open, harsh light spilling through the curtains and interrupting her sleep.

Sitting up, she rubbed her eyes and looked back at the girl who's shoulder she had been using as a pillow. The light didn't seem to have woken Katrina, who muttered quietly and rolled over.

The red headed girl smirked at her sleeping companion, before yawning and climbing out of bed, prancing over to the messy dresser surface and grabbing a neon green scrunchie, pulling her straight red hair into a ponytail.

Looking in the mirror, she smiled, seemingly pleased at her disheveled appearance. She was wearing a green t-shirt and purple panties that barely showed, the colours going along with Taylor's favorites.

Looking back, she eyes her best friend, who's attire didn't seem as comfortable for sleep at her own.

Katrina lay in a brown button up shirt, only a few buttons done up. Her lose brown curls were pulled into a messy bun, and her boy short panties were covered with small orange pumpkins.

For someone so serious, she sure wears amusing undergarments, Taylor giggled to herself, before reaching for her pair of glasses on the bedside table, beside Katrina's thinner rimmed ones. Turning, she glanced at the clock, knowing that Katrina wouldn't be up for a while.

She trotted quietly out over to the trap door on the floor, seeing as the small house her and Katrina owned only had one floor and an attic, so they had no other choice for a bedroom.

Well there were two small rooms downstairs, but, Taylor wanted an office and so did Katrina.

Dropping the ladder as quietly as she could, Taylor dropped down and left it open, making her way to her own lab and walking in. It wasn't very extravagant, walls lined with full bookshelves much like Katrina's. In the middle was her desk with her computer.

Taylor dropped down into the worn swivel office chair and stretched, before leaning forward and opening the laptop. The last site was still open, a site that Taylor shouldn't even have access to.

"Praise to me for superior hacking skills." Taylor grinned, booting up the game. The site that she was on belonged to none other than Edward Nigma, The Riddler. Well, at least that's what Taylor believed, and she was hardly wrong.

On the site was a riddle database and several games that really tested your mental abilities, though what Taylor loved the most was the Riddle of the Minotaur game, which was the game that Edward Nigma had created and lost his rights to.

Taylor shook her head, feeling sympathy for the man she idolized who had his genius design snatched from him by a cruel hand.

This version on the site, however, was different from the original game – which Taylor also owned – as it was harder, with more complex riddles and challenges. Taylor had beaten the original game, though she didn't brag often about it.

Who was there to brag to anyways?

This version presented her with a challenge, as she had yet to complete it, but often found herself getting close. She'd play it late into the evening while Katrina watched from beside her, not being able to sleep due to the light from the monitor.

Taylor tapped away at the keyboard for a while, and before she knew it, hours had passed.

Light footsteps were heard from above and Taylor looked up as Katrina walked into the room, smoothing out the creases on her button up.

"Still mulling away over that game?" She yawned, stretching and revealing a bit of her pale stomach, though Taylor wasn't paying attention.

"Of course. I will slave away until I've beaten it. A puzzle hasn't evaded me for this long before." Taylor shook her head, appearing to be rather miffed, though, in all honestly, she was highly enjoying the engaging challenge.

Katrina shook her head, knowing she was going to have to put up with Taylor's constant gaming all weekend before their classes on Monday. Perhaps she would be able to convince her to go out somewhere.

She was never one to have much desire to go out on the town, but Taylor had been absorbed in that game for far too long.

Sighing, Katrina turned and walked out of the room. Taylor glanced up for a moment, then back down, before she realized that her friend was gone, and stood up. Picking up the laptop, she darted after her friend, climbing back into the attic after her.

"Have I done something?" Taylor inquired, placing the laptop on the foot of the bed and kneeling down to type a few more commands.

"Well, not necessarily, no," Katrina responded, unbuttoning her shirt with her back to Taylor. "Actually, that's the problem. You haven't done anything other than play that game. We need to go out."

Taylor stopped the game and turned around to look at her friend, her eyes landing on the black tattoo on her lower back. It was Scarecrow's insignia, a face with menacing eyes and a mouth that was an upside down bat symbol.

"Why do we have to go out? Home is where the heart is, we're completely comfortable here." She frowned, pulling off her own shirt and pulling out a green tank top from the drawer, along with a pair of purple short shorts.

Katrina shook her head, buttoning up a fresh black blouse and pulling on her dark jeans. She took her hair down and redid it, pulling it into a tight, professional bun, before she slipped her glasses on.

"Because, we're going to get cabin fever, like the main character in-" Katrina paused as she turned, her eyes falling on the laptop that sat, facing them on the foot of the bed. "Taylor, why do you have your webcam on?"

Taylor brushed the question away.

"Oh something's buggy with it, it's been doing that for weeks," She shook her head. "It's not feeding any footage to anything, at least not that I can find. I think it's the security thing, it's just gone buggy after a while."

When she noticed her friend's raised eyebrow, she continued.

"My webcam records footage of whoever opens it, and films them. It usually only lasts like ten minutes, or more if I access it from somewhere else if I know it's stolen. I just think it bugs out when it tries to shut off so it just leaves itself recording. It's nothing. Just probably need a new computer."

Katrina was quiet for a moment, before she went back to explaining to her friend why they needed to get out of the house once in a while.

Little did the two girls know, that on the other side of the city, there were two figures watching them through the camera, having been given access through Taylor's recent most frequented site.