Chapter One: Close Encounters
"Lady, I've been here for hours. Can you just tell me how my daughter is doing?"
"Sir, like I said ten minutes ago and an additional ten after that, your daughter is still in surgery. I have about twenty other families in this lobby going through the exact same thing you're going through. As soon as there are any updates, I promise I or someone else will let you know. Until then, have a seat."
The elderly man glared daggers at Daisy and took a seat. Things were crazier than normal at Gotham Memorial, the older nurses were muttering over and over again that there had to be a full moon, but unfortunately, it was only a waxing. Daisy wondered if this full moon she would be getting another twenty car pile up.
Her twelve hour shift was dragging slowly over the final thirty minutes, she looked at the clock every five minutes to subtract her time. Thirty minus five, only twenty five minutes left. Her feet ached from the hours of running from one patient to the next. There was blood, sweat, and what could only be explained as vomit on her new blue scrubs. She couldn't decide what was the most eventful part of her day; the elderly man who grabbed her ass when she was inserting a catheter or when the whacked out teenager started stripping in the lobby because he was on fire. This was only her first year out of nursing but she was dedicated to the profession; she had always wanted to be a nurse just like her mother and her grandmother.
Twenty five minus five, only twenty more minutes.
Daisy quickly finished her charting for the night, trying to make it out at a reasonable time. She put her coat and hat in a pile next to her, so when the clock struck midnight she could run out of the nut house that was Gotham E.R.
"Excuse me, miss?"
Daisy looked up to see a middle aged woman with mascara running down her face. She was clutching a wad of tissues like her life depended on in. She took long, steady breaths, obviously trying to calm herself down from her situation. Daisy smiled at her, putting all her attention to her, "Yes ma'am, how can I help you?"
"It's my son... Ryan. He-he was in the car pile-up and it's been an hour and no one is talking to me and…" She started to hyperventilate, clutching the counter as to not fall down. Daisy ran around the nurse's station to collect her, the mother melted into Daisy, sobbing into her stained uniform. Daisy did what was natural to her, holding the woman as she sobbed and gasped for air. She gently lowered the distraught mother against the station and kneeled next to her.
"Ma'am, what's Ryan's last name?"
"Mi-miller. Our last name is Miller." The woman curled herself into a ball, steadily rocking back and forth.
"Okay, I'm going to go find out what I can about Ryan. Just stay right here until then, okay?" Daisy stood up and made way to Marcy, one of her veteran co-workers. "Marce, can you grab this mother a bottle of water? I have to figure out what's going on with her kid."
Marcy nodded. Daisy made her way to the O.R. She could see all of the families: pacing, sobbing, rocking; wondering the fate of their loved ones. How can so much instant grief fill one area? She saw a doctor deliver news to a family; the matriarch collapsed in shock, the patriarch held his head in his hands and sobbed. Though Daisy saw the same situation with different faces each day, she never got used to it. The people haunted her dreams, the grief at her happy spirit alive. She had to get a new job, maybe a pediatrics office or something. Something 9-5 with guaranteed weekends, something that didn't want to make her cry in the bathroom every fifteen minutes.
Twenty minus five, only fifteen more minutes.
Daisy grabbed ahold of the closest O.R. nurse that she could find, anything to compromise getting the mother her information and getting herself home. Ryan had decided that night to no wear a seat belt. His head hit the glass and he cracked his skull, as well as a few other bones in his body. He also had an internal bleed surgeons were stitching up. He was somewhat stable and that is what mattered in the moment. Ms. Miller didn't seem to understand, she was still in shock of the whole situation. Daisy sat her down in a seat with a blanket and a coffee. Marcy agreed to keep an eye on her in case she broke down again.
Fifteen minus five, only ten more minutes.
Daisy decided to hid out in the bathroom for the rest of her shift. She seemed to always get caught up and staying for a few extra hours to help out. Gotham Memorial was significantly understaffed; the facility was sucked of most of its resources considering the lack of funding, the drugs, the epidemic with mobs and gangs running loose. Not to mention, the vigilante taking out all the "bad guys" the Gotham P.D. wouldn't dare disturb. Daisy laughed to herself, this is what you would read in comic books.
Daisy scurried into the dirty staff bathroom and locked the stall, stripping out of her tainted uniform (after tonight, she contemplated burning these particular scrubs). Though Daisy had lived in this city for about a decade, she felt as of late she had fallen out of city life, particularly Gotham City. Looking for apartments in New York City became her new hobby, in fact she had a phone interview coming up for Mount Sinai this week. Though Daisy hated hoping for the best, she couldn't help contain the bubbles of excitement she felt when thinking of moving out of this Hell hole of a city
.
Ten minus five, only five more minutes.
Daisy bundled up in her coat, hat, and gloves, bracing herself for the cold. This was one of Gotham's toughest winters yet and she was one of the few lucky ones in her building who could afford power. Daisy had been letting some of the poorer tenants take hot showers and cook meals in exchange for nothing. She expected nothing, however, she allowed herself to accept meals from Mrs. Fu, her upstairs neighbor. Her food was quite delicious and she didn't want the old woman's ego to be crushed.
Daisy checked her watch; midnight, right on time. Daisy quickly punched out and escaped through the back entrance, hoping a supervisor wouldn't run into her and ask her to cover an extra shift again. The cold hit Daisy like a freight train, her body instantly convulsed in shivers. The wind quickly snatched up her loose hat, exposing her dark ringlets. Daisy sighed, more money down the drain. She reached into her purse and pulled out her defense weapon of choice: a thick piece of rope with a padlock on it. All of her other weapons had been used or stolen within the past month, this is what she could come up with ten minutes before work. Her knife had been dropped two days before after some hooligan tried to hold her up and take her purse. Most assumed she was an easy target because she was on the smaller side and Daisy found this humerus as she had been trained in boxing.
Daisy began her walk home, it was thankful only a fifteen minute walk. She walked along the wall of the hospital, day dreaming of a hot bubble bath and a warm bed that awaited her aching muscles. With every step, the wind resisted her, almost like it was pushing her back to her job but she powered through. The cold was intense and she didn't understand how these crooked companies were allowed to shut the power off in some of these homes. The mayor was probably getting a good kickback from it…
Bright high beams whipped around the back of the hospital and Daisy turned. It was odd, considering only first responder vehicles were parked in the back and this car was way too small to be an ambulance. Daisy turned back around and kept walking, holding on tightly to her makeshift weapon in her coat pocket. The car sped up and braked immediately next to her.
Daisy's eyes widened like a deer in headlights and all she could hear was the heartbeat in her ear. This was a van with a sliding door, which flew open when a body hit the snow with a wet thud. The van sped around the corner and her world went dim again, with only the sound of a man's painful cries filling the air.
Daisy rushed over and put the man on his back. He was a kid, couldn't have been more than twenty. In a flash, a squirt of blood flew into the air and hit the snow next to his leg, sizzling as the hot blood made contact with snow. Daisy took the scarf off of her neck and tied a tourniquet above his femoral artery. This was something she had done quite a few times, in fact, emergencies didn't cause her to panic but caused time to slow down. She calculated every move that needed to be done.
The man's cries got softer and softer and when Daisy checked for a pulse, it was weak but it was there. Daisy took off her mittens and pressed on the wound, trying to stop the bleeding. The man shaking; considering the bleed and the temperature, she figured he would go into hypothermia anytime soon.
"What's your name?" Daisy asked, frantically looking for help. No one was back here, people were probably still inside giving reports and even then, no one took the back way out of the hospital because of scenarios precisely like this one.
"Ty-Tyrone," He sputtered pathetically. Daisy pulled out her cellphone and dialed for help.
"911, what's your emergency?"
"My name is Daisy Jones, I'm outside Gotham Memorial. Young, black male, early twenties with a stab to the femoral. He's bleeding quick."
"Sending help now, just hang on."
Daisy hung up and pushed down on the wound, hoping the pressure would alleviate the bleed. She looked down at this young man and gently touched his face with her other hand, "It's going to be okay, help is coming, you're gonna be fine." She choked a little, he was so young and staring at her with fear in his eyes. He was hyperventilating and clutching onto her like a newborn baby. "Everything is okay," she whispered. She looked around frantically, searching for EMTs or nurses or even the janitor, but no one was there, just the two of them.
The young man started to gasp for air and weakly patted her arm, his eyes widened with a sudden, intense fear. Daisy caught it and laid it over his chest, "No, just stay, you need to rest, everything will be fi-"
Suddenly, a strong force wrapped Daisy's arms to her chest and picked her up. It all happened quickly, Tyrone tried to scream but hoarse air just came out. A gunshot, then Tyrone couldn't be heard. Daisy began to flail against the brute, kicking and screaming. Tears rolled down her face and she began to choke against his large, meaty hand. He smelled of cigarettes and sweat. Daisy's boot went directly into her captor's groin and he dropped her, crying out in pain. Daisy stopped dead in her tracks, it was the van from earlier just around the corner.
She began to sprint away, until the brute grabbed her by the leg and her body hit the snow with an audible thud. Her boot made contact with his face and a crunching noise rang through the air, followed by his screams. The brute pounced on her, pinning her to the ground and backhanded her. Daisy's neck snapped back and she saw white from the pain. She felt another blow to her face as he punched her in the eye and began to choke her. She clawed at his hands, gasping.
This was how she would die. Pure terror crawled up her spine as she flailed with the large man on top of her. Her head filled with pressure and throbbed, starving of oxygen. She couldn't throw him off, he was too big and her arms were pinned below his knees. She began to get weaker and weaker, her squirms resembled those of a fish out of water. She began to twitch and she felt a high from lack of oxygen begin to take hold. The world was getting colder, colder than the hard pavement below. She began to take her last breaths, and as she began to make peace with God, the pressure from his hands was released.
Daisy gasped, clutching her throat and gulping for air. The pressure alleviated but it still felt as if she was hit by a train. The brute pulled out a zip-tie and quickly tied her hands together. He grabbed her by the back of the coat and dragged her towards the van. Daisy was a ragdoll, she couldn't think and she especially couldn't move, her body was numb from adrenaline but she could feel her eye swelling shut.
Her head hit the back of the metal floor of the van and she cried out in pain. Daisy curled into the fetal position and sobbed. She had never felt pure terror before but this was it. She had wished he had just killed her because she could predict her demise of rape and torture that she would be experiencing for God knows how long. This was worse than death.
"Oh, now, now. Cheer up, sweetheart. I know it's not a Ferrari but it'll have to do for our first date."
His voice sent a quiver down her spine. Whiny and cartoonish in nature but it had a certain baritone to it. The hair stood up on her neck as she exhaled sharply. She slowly uncurled herself from the fetal position and her eyes grew wide at what she saw.
In the back of the van was the most crazed looking man she had ever seen. He was laid out like an alpha lion, one leg lazily draped over the other. His faded purple pants were covered in black soot and blood. His green hair was slicked back, exposing his paint covered face. His dark eyes sparkled against the matte black grease paint smeared around his sockets. His face was horribly disfigured with a Glasgow smile; she had seen these a few times, Gotham was a mob town after all. When he smiled at her, his smile was never seemed never ending with the bright red paint haphazardly smeared into deposit of scar tissued. She noticed how pale he was, even with blotches of white paint covering his skin.
Her eyes diverted down to his chest, where his hand was putting pressure. He had been stabbed and he had lost a good amount of blood. He labored in breath slightly and he could only apply so much pressure before blood loss got to him.
"You've been stabbed," Daisy murmured.
"No shit," He scoffed. The clown man smiled at her, exposing his yellowed teeth, "Let's play a game, dollface. You do everything I say or I gut you like a pig. Now, as you can see, I'm bleeding profusely. I need you to stitch me up."