Hey guys! Ok so here we go, I hope you guys like it! This is sorta an introduction chapter and there will be more soon. Thank you to everyone who added the previous story to their faves and whatnot, I love you all! :D

-Sailor

3 years later:

I glanced at my degree framed on my wall. I had done it, finally! All those late nights doing work and going to the MCU at ungodly hours of the morning had finally paid off. I now had my law degree so I could progress into my legal career but after a lot of thinking I had decided to stay at the MCU and see how things progressed there before I made a huge career change. Besides I liked my job now, I was no longer a small fish in a big pond. I was up there with the big boys now. I even wore a suit to work, a suit! How grown up was I? No longer did I come in my college clothes, I looked like a professional cop, for once.

I threw on my suit jacket, grabbed my coffee and mp3 player and strolled down to the train station to start my daily commute to MCU. I shoved my ear phones in and switched to the radio listening to Morning Gotham. There was an election coming up and there was going to be a debate this morning with the candidates. I sipped my coffee and waited for the train. The sun stretched through the cloudy, crisp day that was forming but it wasn't warm enough for me to remove my jacket. I didn't like taking my jacket off anyway unless I had a vest underneath my shirt. As I stood there, I noticed Christmas spirit was in the air already, even if it was November and you could see that even standing at a train station at 7.45am. I watched the train approach just at the debate was starting. My commute normally takes about 30 minutes to get right into the centre of Gotham. After the…unpleasantness a few years ago, I had moved to the outskirts of the city, I no longer felt I could live in the centre of Gotham. But I liked it, the air was fresher, the streets were quieter and the Batman never flew around suburban areas at ungodly hours of the night. The commute didn't bother me, I watched other commuter's huff and puff over their morning papers when the train would stop and stall. I didn't get worked up about things like that, there was no point you couldn't do anything about it. And I suppose after what I've been through, a little stall at a stop is a pleasure; my time in Arkham certainly made me appreciate the little things in life. The candidates were introduced and were eased in with a nice question. But by the time I got to work, they were shouting at each other trying to get each one to stop talking, but in true political nature, you couldn't shut any of them up. I yanked out my earphones as I walked in the door. I greeted the security man and the lady dusting around. I always felt sorry for those guys; no one ever asked them how they were, people just walked by them as if they weren't there. I walked over to the elevator and pressed the button for my floor. The door opened revealing a busy office, the hustle and bustle never ceasing. It wasn't even 8.30 yet; most people were still on their way to work. But here, work never stopped. Gordon walked by with a file in his hand and mumbled hello. I said hello back and walked over to open my office for the day.

At around lunch time, I was enjoying a sandwich at my desk (yes we eat at our desks, that's how dedicated we are) when Gordon strolled in, pushing his glasses up the bridge of his nose.

"Hello Circe, how are you today?"

"I'm good" I said trying to swallow the bite I had taken from my sandwich before he asked me anything else.

"Did you hear?"

"About?"

He turned around and closed the door.

"We've gotten word that there's a huge drug shipment coming in, this is the break we've been looking for to get Falcone"

"How do you know about it?"

"We've been tipped off"

"Ok and what's it got to do with me?"

"I need you to tag along"

"Ok"

It wasn't my first drug bust but he only ever asked other people to go if it was huge.

"Where is it?"

"Over at the docks on the other side of town"

"Is it just me heading over with the swat team?"

"No, Mr Harper is going too"

I nodded while wiping my hands on my napkin. While Mr Harper respected me more since my promotion and my undercover work we still butted heads occasionally. I don't know why but we just didn't get on at all.

"What time we leaving at?"

"Three o' clock"

I glanced at my watch, it was just coming up to half one.

"Ok I can do that"

Gordon smiled and turned to walk out leaving me to finish my lunch. I sipped my coffee and looked out the window behind my chair. The sun shone in and warmed the entire office. I got up and leaned against the glass, it was a sunny but misty afternoon, but through the mist I could make out the outline of Arkham Asylum in the distance. It gave me a shiver but hearing the voices outside talking made me feel safe. I heard a horn of a ship in the distance coming from the direction of Gotham Bay which caught my attention. I looked over just as the mist shifted slightly revealing the pointy, spiralling towers of Blackgate Penitentiary. But now I didn't feel safe at all, even with everyone talking outside. I could see him in my mind, his voice, his look… "They all had plans for you! All of them! But I stopped them! You had no idea how dangerous that place was for you kiddo!" His words echoed through my brain as Blackgate went blurry in my vision. But it had been years and not a word…not a peep, nothing, nathan, nada. Everyone just seemed to forget about him, except me. Maybe he was happy at Blackgate, I had overheard at the water fountain one day that Harley had been moved to Blackgate, after she was deemed sane but with time left on her sentence so maybe they resolved their many issues and were happy to live there. I doubted this highly but the thought of that calmed me down. My thought process was interrupted when I heard a scream from outside my office. I spun around, panic rising in my stomach but saw it was just a girl who was clearly a prostitute getting let out after a night in the cells and was still stoned. I threw myself into my chair and held my head in my hands. I blinked hard and shoved the thoughts out of my head and concentrated on my work.

I sat staring out the window as we crossed Gotham Bridge to get to the other side of the city. Mr Harper flicked through the radio stations using the button on his steering wheel, grumbling that there was nothing good on. We were following the swat van and I giggled to myself wondering if they were having the same problem. When he finally settled on a station he decided to tell me what the deal was with this sting.

"You just stay behind me" he grunted rolling up his sleeves.

I rolled my eyes; clearly he wanted the kudos for this.

"Fair enough"

"If I need you, I'll call"

"Ok"

He glanced at me as if wondering if I was being sarcastic or not. Normally I am not this accepting when he tells me to do something.

We got to the other side of the city and turned right towards the docks. I got an eerie feeling seeing Blackgate come closer into view. We pulled up outside the back of the warehouse and the swat team opened the back of the van and Mr Harper and I got out of the car. They told us they had someone wearing a wire so when they make the deal we move in. We waited around for the informer to give the signal when the code word was whispered and the swat team moved in with us behind them. I followed Mr Harper as the swat team took advantage of their surprise and shock by rounding them all up. While we were there more vans arrived to bring them to the MCU, turns out there was more there than had been expected. The last of the drug buyers were handcuffed and brought out to the van. Mr Harper came over to me and told me to search one side of the building to make sure no one else was hiding, he'd search the other. I took my gun out of my holster and walked up the creaky stairs. I stood at the side of the door of the room overlooking the warehouse floor. I pulled the door handle and opened it revealing darkness. I flicked on my torch and held my breath listening for any signs of life. I tip toed around the room but there was no one here. I looked out the window and saw Mr Harper through the dusty window on the other side walking back down the stairs. Obviously there was no one over there. I took one last glance and walked towards the door. But then I thought I heard someone whistle from the other side of the room. I spun around shining the light in that direction but saw nothing. Then it came from the other corner, but there was no one there either. I flicked the torch from each side of the room, nothing. I was just about to leave when I heard a faint creak. I flashed the torch over to my right and screamed seeing a white face peering at me in the darkness. I tripped over a box behind me and fell accidently dropping the torch. Mr Harper appeared seconds later helping me up.

"What's wrong?"

"There's…someone" I stuttered pointing to the corner.

Mr Harper shined his torch where I pointed and there was no one there.

"Are you sure there was someone there?"

"Yes! Now would you check around please!" I sneered.

He got up and searched everywhere, behind all the boxes and came back shaking his head. "There's no one there"

"Maybe they left" I squealed.

"I don't think so, the only way out of here is through that door" he said signalling towards the door beside us. "And you would have seen them leave; maybe it was your imagination"

I nodded but I knew I wasn't imagining it, I knew what I saw but I was hoping if I agreed with him we could leave. He helped me walk down to the car and drove back to MCU. Gordon came up straight away to congratulate us on the successful sting but then saw my face.

"What's happened?"

"Nothing" I snapped.

"She thought she saw someone standing in the room over the warehouse"

Gordon stared at me and I knew what he was thinking.

"Did you?"

"It was probably just my imagination" I shrugged.

"Ok…Mr Harper there's a file on your desk I'd like you to take a look at" he said nodding in the direction of his desk. Harper nodded and walked over. Gordon led me to a chair and got me a glass of water.

"Do you think it was…" he said his head bobbing urging me to respond before he had to say his name.

"It was probably nothing" I said gulping the water.

"Did it look like him?"

I nodded.

"Ok, I'm gonna get a guard to stay outside your building"

"Look there's no need for that, I was probably just spooked"

"Are you sure?"

"Yea it's fine, it's unlikely he'd bother after all this time" I said desperately just wanting to get back to my desk and go back to normal work.

"Ok but if you need something you know where I am"

I got up and went back to work for the rest of the day constantly looking over my shoulder.

On my commute home I was wary of every single person that got on and off the train. I moved every time someone sat beside me and sat on another seat away from everyone. I couldn't wait to just get home and get away from everyone. I switched all the locks and pulled down all the blinds as soon as I got home. I poured myself a neat whiskey and gulped it down to calm my nerves. I threw myself on the couch and turned on the TV trying to forget what happened that day. But I couldn't forget it; the pale face was etched into my mind. But it wouldn't be him surely. It's been three years, why now? Nah, it was just because I had seen Blackgate today and I was thinking about him. That was it, sure it was the Joker, and after what I had done to him, if he were out, he would have done a lot more than whistle in the darkness, right?

That night, I pulled my night mask over my eyes and concentrated on getting a good night's sleep. It didn't feel like I had been asleep for that long but a noise coming from my bathroom had woken me up. It was like someone was pulling my shower curtain. I pulled my eye mask up and got out of bed. I flicked on the light in my bathroom and saw nothing except my own reflection in the mirror. I switched the light back off and returned to bed. I pulled my eye mask down again and shifted to get comfortable, but then I heard what I thought was a giggle from the hallway. I pulled the covers over my head and whimpered to myself.

"Leave me alone" I whimpered into the duvet. Then everything went quiet again. That was the last noise I heard that night.

The next morning, my alarm woke me up and I reluctantly opened my exhausted eyes. I pulled off my eye mask and crawled out of bed. My head had been filled with thoughts and memories all through the night after those noises and I had gotten about an hour's rest. I did my usual routine, without my usual excitement for the coming day and got to the train, except I had forgotten my coffee. This was going to be a bad day I could feel it. I sat on the train listening to the news on my mp3 when someone opening a broadsheet caught my attention. It covered his top half and I don't know why he had caught my attention, I think it was the way he held the paper and folded his legs. I looked away as he turned the page, instead staring at the horrible graffiti that was all over Gotham's walls. I heard the flick of the paper as he turned another page. I glanced briefly and caught a look at his face as he flipped the page. He looked pretty average I gotta say. I went back to looking out the window, unimpressed by what I saw behind the paper. I suppose I enjoyed the image I had created in my head of what he looked like more than the reality. I glanced again as he closed the paper over to grab the next page and just over his shoulder, I saw a head turn revealing a white face that winked at me. I screamed jumping from my seat causing the other passengers to jump, stare and move away from me. I composed myself and walked down to the seat behind the man with the newspaper but no one was there. I walked back through an ocean of snarls and whispers. I sat down and calmed my breathing. At every stop people got off and stared to see if I was going to do something else crazy. Ok, obviously I was letting my imagination run wild. If he was out, surely someone else would have seen him on the train, I mean it's not like he can hide in a crowd. I got off at my stop glancing over each shoulder to make sure no one was following me. Of course no one was following me, I was just being paranoid. I got to the MCU and everything was normal.

"Anything strange?" I asked Mr Harper.

"No, just the usual" he said flicking through a filing cabinet.

"Any break outs? Robberies?"

"No…" he said eyeing me suspiciously.

"Just making sure" I smiled

He shook his head and went back to his filing cabinet. I got a drink of water and went into my office. I sighed loudly and sunk into my chair. Ok this morning was nothing, just my imagination.

The rest of the day was pretty standard; I pushed my horrible train experience that morning to the back of my head and focused on work. But the idea of getting the train home didn't settle with me at all. So as my day wound down and I was left with no paper work I accepted the idea that I would have to go home eventually. I walked out of the MCU clutching to my files. It was coming into winter so it was only 5.15 and the streets were already dark. I looked up and down the street watching the other commuters at bus stops and walking swiftly towards the train station. I told myself that I wouldn't let my imagination scare me so I started walking towards the train station. But then I heard gasps and whispers coming from all around me. I glanced around and they were all looking towards the sky. "Must be trouble" they whispered to each other. A blurry light shone through the clouds, the bat signal. Something inside me told me getting the train home was not an option. So I ran to the sidewalk and hailed a taxi. The driver flicked his cigarette out the window before grunting "Where to?"

"Rosewood apartments" I panted glancing out the back window at everyone staring up at the sky. I sat back and breathed a sigh of relief.

By the time we got to Rosewood, there was 65.50 on the clock but I didn't care, I was just happy to be home in the suburbs and away from that city.

"Which entrance is it?" said the driver as we got to the gates. The complex was so big that there were two separate gates, one leading to the block with apartments 165 to 545 and the other one which lead to apartments 546 to 765.

"The left one, 546 to 765"

He drove around, past the green to the middle of the complex.

"Just here is fine" I said grabbing my stuff and stepping out. I threw him 80 dollars to which he thanked me before putting it in his breast pocket. But he didn't drive away straight away which I found slightly unsettling. I walked up the stairs and wriggled my key in the door before stepping in. I threw my files, my bag and my jacket on the couch and walked into the kitchen to make myself some tea. I walked around my apartment, checking each room just in case. There was no one there, of course there wasn't but I just wanted to make sure. I turned on the TV waiting for the Gotham evening news to find out what the trouble was in the city. But nothing came up, must have been nothing, either that or they hadn't figured out what was the problem was yet. I switched the news off and turned on trash TV instead. The rest of the evening was pretty uneventful; I fell asleep watching the TV and woke up, got something to eat and then went to bed. I pulled my eye mask on and moved around to get comfortable in the bed. Ever since I had gotten out of Arkham I had never again taken my bed for granted, so I bought the most expensive one they had and a mattress that suits my weight and height. I woke up at about 4a.m. to switch off the heating. The place was like a furnace. I crawled back into bed but something didn't feel right. Something in the room had moved…it was the duvet. I had thrown it off me when I got to switch off the heating and now it was pulled up at the pillow and appeared to be smoothed out. I felt panic beginning to bubble inside me as I looked around the room frantically. I felt around on the wall for the switch and flicked it covering the room in light. Nothing, did I pull it up when I got up? No I didn't, I know I didn't. I lay back down but decided to leave the eye mask off just in case. I woke up the next day just as tired as the other days. I crawled into my bathroom and flicked on the light. Something caught my attention as I glanced at myself in the mirror. I had a red mark on my forehead. I switched on the tap and started to scrub it with a face cloth, panic bubbling in my stomach.

"Now sweetie, that is not good for your beautiful skin" I heard a giggle.

My heart stopped dead in my chest.