We get a call from Batman. They have received a package. The street address is for the bank but the recepient is for Catwoman . The bomb squad has evacuated the building. The tiny ticking package may blow the entire bank to bits! I try to slide in my catsuit realizing I have gained a few pounds. I hesitate. Now I am not just responsible for myself. I slowly zip the vinyl up while my cat senses tingle. I have a bad feeling about this! Ivy and I arrive at the bank. Batman greets us at the door and tells us the bomb squad have announced it is safe to enter.
The brown box has numerous destinations stamped on the front. It's flaps are a bit dented. I peer inside and sitting on top of tissue paper is a single post card.
I go to reach it when Ivy yells "stop!" She asks if she can take this and run test. I want to read the post card. "Can I read the card?" I argue.
"No, not yet."
"Ivy is right it may contain trace elements we could use to locate the Joker." "I have some good equipment at my Bat cave."
"No, I use only my own equipment. It is at the loft. " she say's sounding insulted. She eyes the paper. "I can see a few grains of sand. Might be desert or tropical."
"Good eye, Ivy." Batman says impressed.
"So when can we I read the card already?" I ask.
"Later." she says hastily.
I roll my eyes as Ivy gingerly cradles the box out of the building.
***back at the loft***
Ivy prefers to work alone. She concentrates on the single strand of hair with follicle intact. She places it under her slide and adjusts the lens. Her eyes open wide. She takes another strand out of plastic and slides it under the tiny piece of glass. "Twins?" she gasps. "It can't be!" she screams. She grabs a paper bag. After the butler's murder she had called in a favor from an old admirer. She pulls out a white glove and turns it inside out and begins to dust it with a gray powder. She dusts the postcard and finds an entire print above the stamp. She eyes the second print cosely. To the naked eye it appears a close match. "gotcha!" She quickly enlarges each image for ridge patterns and maneuvers her mouse to dot each individual swirl.
She pushes back her body in the wheeled chair and grabs her phone. Ivy touches the screen scroling for just the right application. She rooted her phone for just such an occasion. She hacks into the child protection services archives and waits for it to load. She does a quick math equation and delves into the year the joker would have been born. The list is astonishing. She moves forward for any news that seem odd and stops at a case of a mother battling DSS over taking her two boys.
The news hit the local paper by storm. It gained front page exposure. Next it leaked out nationally. The local women was well respected, a teacher and devout church member. The locals ran to her aid to testify in her behalf. The prosecution argued that they boys were hers. The defendant's witnesses were vast. The doctor upon delivery, to the nurses who footprinting them. Even the father when examined said he cut the umbilical chords. The nasty divorce provoked the father to seek custody of their two sons. The philanderous husband couldn;t belive his luck when the results came back that she had failed the maternity test. His soon to be x-wife failed! He was named as biologically the father. It was not until years later when she remarried and started a new family that another blood test revealed the same pattern. She was again not the mother. Doctor's were stumped as the new mom began to sob recalling her two boys that were ripped from her. A expert from the U.K. heard about the incident and suggested that she was a chimera.
Ivy begins to check iinto the Human Genome Project by the FBI. She hits a brick wall when it comes to the STR loci when it involves identical twins.
"Time to make Euryale bleed!" Ivy chuckles.
She turns to grab her things but stops and types on her lap top of medical abnormalities, genetic disorders and mental illness. She finds one that she enlarges and reads again. Noonan Syndrome . It explains joint hyper-extensibilty and a bizarre characteristics of snake-like necks. She clicks at the keys and types in Microdeletion Syndrome or MEF2c for medical coders. She then scrolls down to DiGeorge Syndrome and yells "By George! I've think I've got it. She scribbles a note about schitzophrenia and about symmetric crying facies. She begins to write and mumble frantically.
"Could the Joker have been born a mutated twin with these abnormalities? Was he also a bit of a freak-show like his mom? Also if she were a chimera could he carry any sexual abnormalities? Only Harley would know if he was a trans-gender or hermaphrodite. With DiGeorge Sydrome, he would not evolve like the typical child. His speech would be impaired, hearing impaired, even his motor skills. If diagnosed with assymetric crying facies he would also always appear to be laughing even when he was upset and confused. These often lead to severe mental disorders in adults." she yells.