The city of Gotham, to outsiders it was a stain, a horrid festering wound on the face of America. But those that weathered the evil and accepted the challenge thrown to them by the very foundation of Gotham to live and thrive, it was home.
To Karen Larsing Gotham was just that, she knew its streets like the back of her hand, she knew which gangs to avoid and which alleys to not go down at certain times in the day. She knew which cops were corrupt and which were actually cops that wanted to clean up the city.
And she knew when the Batman was most likely to be out.
Being a waitress and doctoral student, she could only afford the cheapest of apartments, the ones in the roughest sort of neighbor hoods, ones that the Batman visited often. Her first glimpse him had been out of her window, when a thug had made the mistake of robbing the local pawn shop.
Never had she seen one man hold such a presence, and as she wished that once she got her badge she would be so effective.
Karen wanted to be a member of the police force, only two weeks away from graduating, she would have her doctorate in criminal psychology, already having her degree in criminal justice. Thank god it was cheap to go to school here too. Then she would be able to do something about the scum that walked the streets of her city.
Karen had suspended getting her badge, wanting to complete her education, knowing how rigorous the hours could be, she didn't want to endanger herself and others by not focusing one-hundred percent on her job.
And one of her jobs would be the Batman.
The Chief, when she had explained her situation and why she was postponing her academy induction, assigned her, once she got her badge to the Batman case.
Batman, the very name sent her on an internal debate that didn't stop until she had exhausted every possible argument. Such as any man who dressed as a nocturnal winged rat had to have some issues.
Yet when she remembered him that day, there had been such anger, such grief in his stance, under the intimidation she saw a man in pain. Now what pain was the question. Perhaps a lost love? To a mugger that kind of thing happened often enough in Gotham. Perhaps the corruption of Gotham had taken away his life. . .
No she thought no too material, no it was personal, he hated the criminals, And yet he held himself back, any normal vigilante would have an agenda, or target a specific group or gang. Batman didn't seem to discriminate from a politician to a pick pocket.
And it hardly helped her to know that the Batman had solved several of the G.P.D.'s cases before they even so much as complied a list of suspects.
In Karen's personal opinion as a citizen of Gotham she thought the Batman was possibly the best thing to happen to this city, and often cheered the new commissioner when he had shown support to the Batman, not quite saying that he disapproved but neither did he declare the Batman as a friend to the city.
But as a professional, she could not help but analyze him and his actions as the Chief suggested. What could drive a man to take such a corrupted city by storm, and strike fear into the heart of it's underbelly? An mental condition or trauma from some horrific event witnessed in his lifetime.
And speaking of mental conditions she thought grimly as she turned to the news. Depicting a brutal homicide, the couple sporting knife wounds and the young man with a gruesome smile on his face, a playing card stuffed in the girl's mouth.
The Joker; one of the many nutcases that had crawled from the woodwork and perhaps the worst. Now that was who she wanted to analyze, a psychotic with a past just as shrouded as the Batman's identity and twice as dangerous.
Karen had heard about Harley Quinnzel, once a brilliant psychologist, rendered to a life of crime, her mind altered by emotions that were never aquited, or so she had been told, by the Joker. Karen glanced toward the Narrows, the island left to madness after some sort of gas attack by Scarecrow, another nut job, where she knew that Harley Quinn was celled in padded room.
Joker broke her out about a month after every incarceration, when he needed a lackey and perhaps someone who wouldn't mind sharing a bed with the screw loose. Karen had it from the prostitute across the hall that no matter how much the Joker would pay not a single call girl would go anywhere near him, resulting in if declined in person a brutal rape and murder for a poor girl trying to make ends meet.
The Joker, the Clown Prince of Crime as Gotham had named him, angering the crime bosses of the underworld. But no one dared moved against him, no one but Batman.
A knock on her roused her from her thoughts. And she shut off the T.V. and, after looking through the peep hole, answered the door.
"Donut?" her future partner and friend Jackson Richards said, holding out an open box. He was perhaps one of the few honest cops in the city, his mother had been caught in a cross fire between Falconie and the Russian and had set him on the detective fast track. He was tall as a the door frame, ducking so as not to hit his head, his green eyes glinted mischievously as he flapped the lid at me, wafting the smell of warm cake donuts, her favorite, toward her.
"I'm not a cop yet" she said but took one anyway.
"You might as well be" he said throwing himself down on her worn out futon. "you give all the guys coffee in the morning, then when you get off your down at the station, talking it up with the detectives."
"jealous?" she teased, pouring myself some milk to go with the donut.
"psh yeah" he said around a donut, rolling his eyes "sure"
"So you start tomorrow" he asked and she nodded as she stuffed her face. "rumor is that your on Batman"
"Yeah" she sighed
"you don't sound too thrilled" he noticed and she sat in the armchair, leaning forward and nursing her glass.
"Jack" she said "I'm asking you not as my future partner but as a fellow citizen of Gotham . . . what do you think of the Batman?"
Jack contemplated and ate his next donut and took a long sip of his coffee before answering.
"personally, I think that the guy should get a freaking medal" he said setting his coffee on the table "he don't do no permanent damage to the criminals, he doesn't parade around like a peacock and he's saved a lot of lives, shook the gangsters and crime bosses to their boots."
"I'm sensing a but" Karen said
"But" he nodded "he is still a vigilante and those are classified as criminals. And as a cop it's my job to get him off the streets. He is still a danger"
"and what about that guy from Metropolis" she asked "he can throw a car to the moon, break a persons neck with a flick of his finger and burn a hole through someone with a look, how is he different"
"Do you want to confront him?" Jack said
Karen merely finished her milk, regretting bringing up the topic, it was too sensitive and she knew it. but she couldn't help but voice her concerns.
"do you want to confront Batman?" Karen countered setting her glass next to his and he laughed
"you nuts? No way" he said. "you see the punks that come in? broken arms fingers, ribs and legs. I would like to still be able to walk when I turn thirty thank you"
"My point being" she said "I would rather look more closely into the Joker and the Scarecrow and all of his other eniemies, the ones that are hurting the public"
"whoa" Jack said "now you aren't a detective yet, you have a few years to go, rookie, the Joker is for the seasoned veterans like Yin."
"I know" she said "so why is Chief putting me on Batman?"
"Fresh young mind" he said shrugging "fresh from college, and a woman at that. Women have an uncanny ability to details and little things that could mean the world to a person"
"I know" Karen muttered and suddenly his pager beeped
"damn" he said "I'll see you tomorrow Kare, got a situation"
"bye Jack" she said
"don't worry I won't rat to the Chief about this little discussion we just had" he said with a grin
"what discussion" she asked grinning back "say hi to Helen for me"
"will do" he said as he made his way down the hall
"and be careful" she said "I want a partner in the morning"
"yeah yeah" he said and she closed the door shaking her head.