Animal ||Edward Nygma|| [3]

Chapter Nine || Tired

"I have two arms, two hands and ten stronger than normal fingers that are all very much ready, always ready, to pick you up and carry you beyond all this. Carry you home."

- Tyler Knott Gregson

Charlotte was tired of walking aimlessly through the city. She was looking for a place to spend the night and had found nowhere good enough for her to stay. Charlotte started asking herself if leaving so suddenly had been a good idea. She just went back to the Iceberg Lounge to change out of her bloody dress and into some more comfortable and clean clothes.

The blonde saw a neon sign where it was written the word 'HERE'. She followed the sign and saw another of two cherries. Charlotte knew it was a bad idea to just wander into a shady looking bar in the Narrows. She had learned it the hard way not too long ago. Charlotte had to fight her way out of a bar when a group of men tried to grab her and rape her. Of course, she won the fight and all the men lost their external genital organs. Those men would certainly not rape anyone ever again.

Charlotte walked into the bar called 'Cherry's Place' to be received with very loud music and shouts. Turns out it was a fight club. People cheered as two men punched each other to death in the ring. She was one step from walking back out, but her eyes landed on the bar across the room. She was really needing a drink.

After making her way across the crowd of people, Charlotte reached the bar. She ordered a glass of Whiskey and asked the bartender to leave the bottle. Charlotte felt relieved after the liquid went down her throat. As she drank, she felt her body start to go numb and the pain in her shoulder start to fade away.

"It's a grasshopper," a man asked the bartender right from beside Charlotte. Her eyes widened and she froze when she recognized the voice. She looked at him and came face to face with Edward Nygma. When he saw her, Ed smiled mischievously. "Look who's here".

Ed noticed the bloody bandage on her shoulder but didn't have time to say anything about it. Charlotte acted instinctively and grabbed Ed by his neck before hitting his head against the counter.

"Ow!" Ed complained as he took off his glasses, so Charlotte wouldn't break them. She was stronger than him even if she was tired and with an injured shoulder. The people who heard the commotion looked their way, but the only one who made a move to help Ed was Grundy. "Charlotte, stop that. Let go of me".

"Grundy kill!" The large and pale man exclaimed as he grabbed Charlotte's arms and pulled her away from Ed.

"No, Grundy!" Ed told him with a hand raised in his direction. Grundy stopped but still held a struggling Charlotte with his strong hands. It caused the pain in Charlotte's shoulder to return full force. "You can let go of her. It's okay, buddy".

Grundy hesitated, but he ended up doing as Ed told him to and let go Charlotte. She took a hand to her shoulder and turned to face Grundy furiously. "Who the hell are you? Ed's bodygu..." She stopped when she noticed who Grundy was. "Butch?" She also noticed his left hand seemed to have grown back. "Your hand! What happened to you?"