Chapter 4:

Ain't No Place Like Gotham

Summary:

Veronica chases Bruce's obsession and gets a little obsessed herself.

Despite Alfred's warnings that Mycroft Holmes is likely one of the most manipulative people on the planet, Veronica takes the deal. She's pretty sure Bruce is somewhere in Asia, but she's also fairly sure tracking him is beyond her resources and skills at the moment.

The last of the withdrawals by any of Bruce's known aliases was just before she and Jake had struck their bargain. He'd withdrawn a significant amount of cash from an ATM in Changsha in China's Hunan province. After that, there's nothing. And even Jake Kane and Clarence Wiedman have limited contacts in the area.

So Veronica takes the deal, and Mycroft tells her it might be a couple of months, three at the outside, before he can give her anything concrete. Still, it's better than anything she can count on, so she plays the waiting game. She goes back to New York and resumes training with Ted and Dinah, still backtracking Bruce's footsteps so she can get a sense of his narrative, not to mention the skills he'll bring to bear when she finally meets him and talks him into coming home.

And if he doesn't want to come home, she's going to have to talk him into it, she knows. First of all, if he isn't already one of the world's best martial artists, she'll eat her left foot. Second, his fake IDs all put him at over six feet, somewhere between six foot one and six foot four. She can claim all of five feet and one inch. She has no hope in the physical arena, no matter how much Dinah compliments her on her progress or how often she gets Ted's grudging grunts of approval.

She knows if she's going to convince Bruce it's time to come home, she's going to have to use the things he cares about. That means boning up on knowledge that would matter to a crime fighter. So she stays in New York, barters on her father's name to butter up a few professors and sit in on their criminology and criminal psychology classes, reads book after book on the subject.

She knows Bruce is likely still in Asia, so she even starts learning Mandarin.

She drives down to Gotham for a few days every other week or so. She spends time getting to know Alfred and learning about Wayne Enterprises and the Wayne Foundation. The latter is especially of interest, since she's fairly sure it's one of the things Bruce was pretty passionate about before his departure. She has lunches and dinners with Lucius Fox and with Alfred, who has pretty much given her a room of her own at Wayne Manor.

She learns that Lucius's genius and dedication to Thomas and Martha Wayne's vision is hampered by the money-obsessed members of the board, who veto projects that promise no short-term gains. Every year, Lucius is under more and more pressure to bid for contracts that will have Wayne Enterprises building projects for the military that don't focus on life preservation, on defense and non-lethal solutions.

Several board members, led by William Earle, push for Wayne Enterprises to use its proprietary technologies to go up against LexCorp, Queen Industries, and Stark Industries in the weapons and munitions market. It's not the vision Thomas Wayne had for the company, but Lucius's protests are toothless without Bruce.

Lucius never tells her outright, but Veronica knows enough from the hints he's dropped that without Bruce's support, he might eventually have to start giving in to make sure he retains support for medical, research, and pharmaceutical projects, not to mention the Wayne Foundation.

She volunteers at Dr. Thompkins' free clinic, bringing to bear as much California sunshine as she can manage. She talks to the regulars, learns about Gotham's ills.

She even consults with Jim Gordon from time to time (unofficially, of course), enjoying the way they toss around ideas, something she and her dad used to do back when they ran Mars Investigations together. She gets private investigator licenses for New York and New Jersey. She's pretty sure she wants to move out here when everything is said and done, which is funny because she's always thought of herself as a California girl.

She never would've thought there was a town more mired in corruption than Neptune, but the grime of Gotham's underbelly makes her hometown seem almost squeaky in comparison. Still, there's something compelling about the city.

People often speak of the distinct attitudes of a city's people, and Gothamites are one of a kind. They aren't quite the melting pot New Yorkers are, but they've got even more grit than the average resident of the Big Apple. Gotham is even more of a mob city than Chicago was, but the truth is that the mob is only a symptom of the sickness in the city's soul.

Yet big business is alive and well in this gothic, angst-filled town; it's home to some of the world's best innovators and some of America's oldest families, for all it's one of the most dangerous cities in the world to live in.

True Gothamites, whether they grew up here or were transplanted only to embrace the city as their home, eventually have a look in their eyes old war veterans would recognize. It's something Veronica has seen in the kids of Neptune, but not quite as pervasive. It's a look she's seen in her own eyes, in Logan's and Mac's and occasionally even Wallace's. It's part of why Gotham speaks to her; it's got the same vibe but is such a big city she retains her anonymity in a way she never could've in her own hometown.

She finds there's something that might almost be called pride in the way Gothamites talk about the soaring crime rates of their city, not because they like the corruption, but because it's an achievement to simply have survived its cesspit. Gotham eats its innocents, mangles the mediocre. The city spawns some of America's most brilliant, for good or ill—more often for the latter, but that's nurture over nature for you.

It's the fact that Bruce Wayne is a Gothamite born and bred (he's arguably the Gothamite, as often as he's lauded the Prince of Gotham by tabloids and legitimate press alike) that has Veronica convinced that wherever he is, it's exactly where he wants to be. As far as she is concerned, there isn't any doubt that he is alive.

Still, she knows Gotham well enough now that if William Earle and the WE board push to have Bruce declared dead in absentia, enough money is likely to change hands that nothing short of a personal appearance will prevent the ruling. And the five-year deadline is looming close enough that she's prepared for this eventuality.

Most of her friends are perplexed by her newfound fascination with Gotham.

Mac and Wallace are full of equal parts concern and resignation, and they tell her only she would get out of the hellmouth that is Neptune to find her way to a city that might actually be hell on earth.

Her dad understands better the need to shine a light in the dark, but he urges her to spend more time in New York and less time in Gotham nevertheless. She is still, after all, his little girl.

Even the friends she made at her FBI internship voice some concern. In one of their friendly Skype sessions, Penelope Garcia, the technical analyst she befriended at the BAU warns her about the crazies, then calls over her "chocolate Adonis" of a supervisory special agent to read Veronica the riot act.

"Hey, tiny tot, how's it going? Still working that missing persons case?" SSA Derek Morgan peers at the camera over Garcia's shoulder, his unreasonably handsome face breaking into a grin when he sees who's on screen.

"Yep. Pretty sure I've beat out the competition to find this guy. How're things with you guys, Agent Morgan? Crazy as ever?"

Garcia throws up her hands in exasperation. "Enough! Hot stuff, you are here for one reason only. Tell our little Neptunian blonde here that Gotham is not a nice place to spend half her time!"

Morgan frowns. "No, it isn't. Angel, you do know Gotham's got the highest incident of murder cases per capita in the country, right? Not to mention it's the city with the highest rate of serial murders? And you know I don't like to speak badly of local enforcement agencies, but the GCPD hasn't acted on our recommendations to establish a dedicated taskforce and hire their own team of profilers."

"Recommendations we've issued every year like clockwork since the BAU was first established," Garcia pipes in.

"It's not that bad," Veronica says. At their matching level stares, she pouts. "Okay, it is that bad, but there's a certain je ne sais quoi to Gotham. And anyway I spend most of my time in New York. I've even been taking self-defense classes."

Morgan just shakes his head. "Don't make me call Reid in to quote statistics at you. Just stay safe and don't go anywhere alone until dark. And stay out of Crime Alley, even if it means spending more for a hotel."

"I've actually been staying with a friend just outside of Gotham."

"Well, that's something at least."

Garcia rolls her eyes. "I swear, I never met a magnet for trouble like Veronica Mars. And the idea of a tiny little nugget of sunshine like you in America's black hole of crime gives me cold sweats."

"I'm fine, Garcia," Veronica says with a smile.

"Wait." Morgan frowns. "You're in Gotham working a high-profile missing persons case. Bruce Wayne?"

"Yep." Veronica pops the P.

"You're after the reward?"

"I've been hired by an interested party. The reward's a bonus—okay, a really big bonus, if I get it—but I'm on retainer."

Morgan shakes his head. "Well, angel, I guess you really do embody the idea of 'go big or go home.' I'm not going to bet against you, but Gotham's not the safest playground, so watch your back, okay? I know Hotch is still hoping you'll eventually come to Quantico so he can recruit you."

"Will do!" Veronica salutes smartly. "But no promises on joining the FBI. You guys love your paperwork and your red tape way too much."

"It's not a question of love but necessity, hotshot."

They end the call amicably, with Garcia demanding that Veronica check in regularly, on pain of having her phone tracked.

Time passes, and despite the fact that she's only been taking classes for a short time, she's told she might actually actually earn her yellow belt in Krav Maga, moving from white belted beginner to second-level practitioner, within a few months. She credits Dinah and her teacher, a former Mossad agent, with her swift progress.

When she goes home for Thanksgiving, she happily lets her dad drag her to a gym so she can show off her moves. Afterward, he tells her he's glad she can defend herself with more than just her trusty taser.

It's mid-December. She has one last dinner with Dinah and Ted, telling them she'll be sure to look them up whenever she's on the East Coast and that they should do the same if they find themselves in California.

They exchange gifts. She gives Ted a set of blue-black workout gloves with the Wildcat logo emblazoned in gold. She gets Dinah a black tank top with the words "I'll try being nicer if you try being smarter" emblazoned on it—the other woman has shown a marked appreciation for Veronica's statement tee collection.

The day before she's due to fly back west, she drives down to Gotham to present Alfred with her gift for him, a tin of Darjeeling Makaibari tea that's supposed to be one of the best India has to offer.

Alfred hands her an exquisitely wrapped box no bigger than her palm, but says nothing at her curious look. He also hands her another wrapped box, a larger one, which he tells her is from Lucius. She inspects the gifts, even shakes them, but gets no clues as to its contents.

"You could open it," he says, clearly amused.

"Noooo," she says slowly, shaking her head. "Not allowed to open gifts before Christmas. Guess I'll just have to bring it with me. I'll call you when I open it, okay?"

"Very well, Miss Veronica. Please wish your father, Miss Mackenzie, and Mr. Fennel a happy Christmas for me."

"You bet, Alfie!"

She's pressed for time, so she leaves her presents for Lucius Fox and Jim Gordon with the butler. But she makes it a point to drive down to Leslie Thompkins' clinic, where she has gifts for the doctor and her staff as well as a big bag filled with stuffed toys for the children's waiting area.

Another large shopping bag is filled with knitted scarves she bought from a factory overrun store. She gifts one to each of the regulars present, leaving the bag with one of the nurses after extracting her promise to give the scarves away to people who look like they need them.

By nightfall, she is back in New York and returning her rental car. She takes the train back to her apartment and double-checks her luggage to make sure she hasn't forgotten anything. She makes sure all her presents are in order, and tucks Alfred's present to her into her carryon bag.

The following morning, she flies to San Diego. It's a week before Christmas, and she's looking forward to seeing her friends and her dad. And Gotham may be her city one day, but for now, Neptune is still home.

End Note:

So, yes, I couldn't help myself. Veronica's internship with the FBI has just always made me dream of a Criminal Minds crossover. So I wrote up this admittedly self-indulgent cameo for Morgan and Garcia. Later in the series, I have dreams of a Mac-Garcia-Oracle-Overwatch power team, but that's a long way off.