Katrina was unsure if she was seeing things or not. This man in front of her had to be the Batman, but he seemed to irreparably stupid to put it plainly. The entire conversation he had said nothing save the word 'what' three times now already. He didn't even know who Jude Van Tassel was. Despite being such a renowned psychologist and psychiatrist she was missing. She hadn't shown up to work in weeks and her apartment was empty. It was like she had disappeared into thin air. The cops in Metropolis figured that she was at the bottom of the ocean right now. Katrina knew what really happened and had managed to follow her all the way to this dirty city.

"There are more important things I need to be doing in Gotham than finding your friend. I'm sorry for you, but I'm not the man to help."

She fought the urge to smack him off this skyscraper now. This was the reason the crime rate was still so high. The idiot in the bat suit standing in front of her. Ignoring how painfully cliche she realized the scene was, she rubbed a hand down her face and attempted to continue.

"I don't need you to help me find her. I need her dead. She killed my mother and now she's run away to get away with the crime."

The Batman stood a little straighter with the mention of her dead mother, she noted. Maybe his vendetta against crime wasn't some random act of kindness to the citizens after all. Something had happened to him. While she wasn't concerned about what, she realized that it would be easy to capitalize off of his fears and insecurities. Her mother had always taught her that what people feared was also what made them fight.

"Momma was the only person I had left. I don't know my father and the rest of my family disowned her or maybe they're dead too! She never told me." The tears started to flow over in increasing measure. "I just wanted to know, and she called me to tell me that it was finally time, and I would finally know, but then this..." she hiccuped, enjoying the pained look in his eyes through the mask, "t-this...and now she's g-gone! That woman took all I had left-"

"I can't help you." The stiffness in his spine slackened for a moment while he leaned in to give her a few fatherly pats on the shoulder. There was an ancient sadness deep in his voice which she understood. "I can't help you because you need to do this. I'm no hit-man, that's not my job. You won't feel right if I do anything. Just remember to not become the monsters that they are. You don't want this woman dead you just want your mother alive again. I understand."

After a moment of feigning a type of understanding to his words, she pushed him away half-hoping that he really would toppled over the side of the building into the traffic below. She bit the inside of her cheek taking long strides to the door of the building.

"I'll figure it out on my own!" She barked back to him. "I never thought about a hit-man." It was pure luck that he couldn't hear her last whispered words.

"Good luck." He breathed as she slammed the door. As his eyes traveled out to observe the city there was the Bat Signal was already burning in the sky.

"I've drilled holes into one side of the gun to silence it a bit. The sound won't go down by much, but at least it's less."

Jude had been ready to leave over two hours ago, but Jonathan had decided to take his time this morning. He even ate breakfast. They were so close to being able to leave, and here he was talking about some useless gun that he had mutilated.

"I don't need a gun." She reached for the door even though it was locked. The keys jingled a bit in his pocket as he swayed back away from her.

"Just take it."

"Aren't those illegal here?"

His eyes were rolling before she was finished.

"Of all things now is not the time to be worried about the legality of owning a firearm in Gotham. Take. It."

Her eyes kept a steady lock on his as she plopped her hand palm up in the space between them. He gave her a smile that didn't reach his eyes as he plopped the pistol into her hand. The slight satisfaction gracing his face made her stomach turn and her eyes narrowed at the thought of pleasing him. All she wanted was to step outside and he had to turn it into something more difficult. She admitted that her behavior two nights ago had been less than appropriate and that maybe she shouldn't have brought up Scarecrow, but it was too late to take any of that back now.

"Can we go now?" She asked after a moment of watching him eye her up and down. He was examining her again and she wasn't going to take it.

"Of course." He gritted out through clenched teeth.

As he pushed past her to unlock the door she tossed the gun into the purse he had given her. It was plain and black, but looked expensive. There were too many bills stuck into a pocket of it for her to count, a little coin purse, and even a phone. While it interested her to think that he had done all of this for her she knew that there were other motives. She was still his dear little experiment, and he needed her to carry out that ridiculous plan for Falcone.

A small pressure at the base of her spine pushed her into the musty smelling air of the warehouse. The metal steps creaked beneath her as the door slam shut with clicked. Jonathan pulled on it three times as she sprinted down the stairs. It was almost painful to wait for him slowly and pointedly stride down each and every step.

"Don't be an asshole." She called from the concrete floor of the hollow building. From down here it was easy to see the square loft that encircled the perimeter of building. A soft blue glow from a few of the rooms lit up the darkness in a ghost like way. There were crates filling the dusty corners and a blocked off part near where she assumed was the door and staircase to the basement.

"Ready?" He snipped, finally making it to the final step. The tweed coat he was wearing hung oddly upon his shoulders almost making him look like he really was filled with straw.

It was impossible for her to tell what the weather outside was, but she doubted that the blue windbreaker she had on would do much of anything.

Jude hadn't been prepared for the strong bite of wind that came swooping in as they stepped out into the outside. Metropolis was always warm, something that she had never really enjoyed entirely, but now was grateful for.

Living in Gotham must be like a colder version of Hell.

"Where are we going?"

She had to jog to catch up with him.

"Why do you go out in public? You're not even trying to hide yourself." She hissed up to him. A tough-looking woman strode by only giving them a cursory glance. Her eyes rested on Jude for a second longer before barely looking into Jonathan's eyes. When Jude shifted her eyes to look at the woman she scurried out of their way and rushed past.

"That's why. All of these people- they fear me. They know that the Batman will come and save them so they don't bother. The cops are lazy and useless as far as their job goes. Half of them a bought out by the big criminals which is substantially less than it was before we had the Dark Knight strolling around. No one cares. If that man really cared for his people he would have killed us the first chance he got."

Jude stuffed her hands into pocket and pulled away from him. "Maybe he just doesn't want to be like you." She muttered.

"Give it a rest."

"I wasn't agreeing with him, that's just my opinion. You must understand him, Jonathan, you've spent more time studying I would assume. You could probably dissect every little thing about him, down to his fears. Superman isn't quite as brooding or dark, not on the outside at least, so he wasn't nearly as interesting as I would assume this man to be. He had his breakdowns, but wasn't quite as big of a crybaby."

Every little noise became distracting as they strode closer and closer to larger and larger swarms of people. There were open shops and children. The wind swooshed and swished around them, whipping up her dark hair. It felt oddly natural. The rest of Gotham pretended that they were normal people. No one screamed or cried in fear or phoned in to tattle on them to the police or Batman. Everything was too normal.

"What's you take on him?" His voice cut through her vague sense of normalcy.

"Hmm?"

"On Batman, what do you think of him?" Jonathan asked earnestly. There was still that pesky underlying tone of superiority, but she ignored it.

"I think that something must have happened, like a trigger, and he decided that he needed to protect everyone else. Someone must have killed his girlfriend or wife, maybe his parents if he's young enough I suppose. Then maybe he just happened to have all this money lying around or spent his time building up all this machinery and weaponry to take out villains. From his general appearance I would assumed that he's probably in his thirties or early forties. He probably gets off on this whole villain catching thing. Maybe he just likes being dominant, or maybe he thinks he's some sort of god now. He might-"

"No." He interrupted coolly. "What do you think of him. What is your opinion on what he does and who he is?"

Jude chewed at her bottom lip, lagging behind him the slightest bit. "I don't know. I've never met him in person, but I've seen how he beats people like you and I'm not sure if I can agree with that. It all seems a little unnecessary and hyper-aggressive for me to fully condone." Jonathan scoffed. "Well if you want to seem so much better than the bad guys then you shouldn't go around beating them half to death just to apprehend them. I'm sure there are better ways to take someone out no matter how angry or personal you take their attacks on the city in general. He was just another fucked up kid like us-"

"Us?"

"Just like us," she rolled her eyes and continued, "And decided that he wanted to fight people that he disagreed with and have the cops as backup."

"The GCPD do not enjoy his presence very often. They tolerate him, but Commissioner Gordon is so enthralled by him that he allows the man to keep doing what he does."

She mulled it over for a moment. It wasn't as if the government had been too keen on Superman in the first place, though that had to do more with his unnatural abilities. Again the sounds came crashing in around her, pulling her senses every way imaginable until she slowly reeled herself back in.

"I'm not saying what he does isn't right, but it's not wrong either. If the cops are useless then I suppose it is nice to have someone like that around to put people like you in Arkham where you belong."

He took a sharp breath in. "It was people like us a moment ago." While she remained silent he continued. "Where do you think you belong right now?"

She shrugged and turned away from him. The crowds had died down but there was still a buzzing in her ears. It was obvious now that the experiment had done a bit more than she had initially thought, or maybe it was all the time she had spent in solitude or with Jonathan over the past week or so. The days had all run into one another and she wasn't sure at this point.

"I feel like a ghost." Jude admitted as he took her into the alley beside the warehouse to unlock the side door.

"Interesting." He nodded.

She pushed some of the plastic grocery bags higher up her arms as the door swung open just enough for her to fit through behind him. While she debated over whether to pick up parsley or rosemary he was across the street in a typewriter shop doing business. The walk back to the warehouse had been painfully long and quiet. Jude's palms were an angry red from the heavy bags. Jonathan hadn't even bothered to offer his help.

"Why do you think that is?"

It was impressive that he never stopped doing his job. Always a psychologist, always interested and curious. Still, though the situation seemed odd, she continued.

"I think I died that day. When she did whatever she did to me. I think I stopped existing. Maybe I'm still in shock, but that doesn't seem possible. I can only assume that it's another effect of this." He was locking the door behind them as she scaled the rattling steps. It didn't matter to her whether or not he listened. "I feel empty."

"You've been afraid all your life how can imagine to feel good about suddenly not having that sort of thing in your life. People need to be slowly led away from their fear. That was one crucial which that woman did not understand therefore leading to the massive body pile-up she had accumulated prior to you. It is sheer luck that you even survived."

Jude stepped out of the way so he could unlock the door to the loft.

"She said that she knew about me and you. While I was there she told me that she researched me and found all of these little things that led her to realize what had really happened and what I had done." Her teeth gritted a little harder with every word.

"So you think you're special?" He asked. "That you weren't some random mistake."

"That's not what I meant." She said pushing past him into the long hallway.

"It's a wonder that you even got a doctorate without having the capability of simple articulation."

The groceries had all dropped out of her hand and she had him pushed up against the nearest wall by the collar of his shirt before he could crack out another half-smirk. Staring up at his leering face she felt a white hot anger burn inside of her.

"Enough." She growled.

Something flashed in his eyes and for a moment she was wondering if he would just maybe turn into Scarecrow.

"I will take every other petty insult you can think inside that split up mind, but you will not insult my work or mind. We can stop this silly game now. I won't attack for Becky, or Scarecrow, or something screwed up love-lust you had for me when we were younger and you won't do the same. You will not insult my work, my intelligence, or whatever I did when we were children. Those days are over Jonathan and I advice that you start acting your age."

It seemed impossible for him to frown any deeper.

"I accept." He pushed out through closed teeth.

After another moment of the raging silent battle between their hard stares, she pushed herself away from him picked up the bags again.

"We're having sole meuniere for dinner!" She huffed.

Jude watched her skin slowly turn pink in the hot water of the tub. Her and Jonathan had only spoken in passing since he had let her out to the store. She had bought a mini calender and planner at the store and kept the receipt so she could remember what day it was. It seemed that he spent more and more time downstairs as the days dragged on.

Pushing around the blueish bubbles from the cheap soap she counted up the days.

Fifteen.

He promised that we would go out again.

The soft feathers which lined up the jagged scars pressed softly into her back. Sighing deeply pulled away from the cold side of the tub to examine her yellowing and chipped nails. Taking a deep breath she pushed herself under the water completely and opened her eyes. The way the water distorted and blurred her vision seemed to showcase how she was feeling. Over and over again she had said it, but no one was ever there to hear her complaints. This didn't feel right. It was odd to her that there wasn't a large search party out for her right now, then again she hadn't seen a newspaper in days and hadn't bothered to pick one up at the store. Her workplace revered her as one of their top supervisors they wouldn't just let her run away without an explanation. She didn't have very many friends outside of the workplace so there was no worry in that.

...but Logan and Terra are probably worried.

Do you honestly think that they would come looking for us? They knew that we don't really care about them. Useless and weak personal devices we only used for our own pointless-

Jude shot out of the water coughing and sputtering. There had been another voice creeping into her mind that barely sounded like her own. Those certainly weren't her thoughts. It seemed like that she would develop a personality disorder now of all times, but she didn't like the idea of it. The voice had sounded so cold and distant she knew if she just...but Jonathan would find out. Even with- or perhaps especially with- his own bouts of madness he would recognize and monopolize right away on this development. Or maybe she was just kidding herself. It could have just been a little fluke. A little vicious thought that was unreal, but still stuck in the back of her mind. Though she didn't consider herself particularly close with the two she regretted their last meeting and how she rushed away. They were the two people she had come closest to loving like family since her mother.

Pushing her inky hair out of her face she pulled the stopper from the tub and stepped out. Goosebumps puckered up on her arms and legs and she toweled off and stood to the side of the large mirror. She had refused to look at herself to closely since she had cut off her hair. It wasn't the short hair that bothered her, it was knowing what the rest of her body looked like. Her body didn't match her. She didn't like the darkness of her hair or the sallowness of her skin or how her eyes were lifeless, muddy orbs now. She looked like a dead body.

A bright spot of red on the white towel pulled Jude from her personal pity party.

"Shit," she dropped onto her knees and tore open the cabinets below the sink hoping and praying that maybe Jonathan had been smart enough to buy at least something that she could use. "Shit, shit, shit..." or maybe he wouldn't have even thought about it. It seemed as though he had gotten everything else and more, but this one little thing he hadn't thought of. Pulling shampoo and soaps out of the dark she finally breathed a sigh of relief. Stuck in the back were two little black boxes. She felt a mixture of grateful and concerned by the fact that he knew that she would be staying here for such an extended period of time.

Hugging her lower abdomen protectively through the gray sweatpants she stumbled out into the hall and slowly made her way to the hall.

Jonathan swayed into the kitchen splatter in red and smelling like copper a little past three in the morning. His usual ugly sweater vest was hanging limply in one hand and a few of the buttons on his cream collared shirt were open. A sheen of sweat was still glowing on his flushed face as he plopped down at the table and tossed the stained burlap mask onto it.

"You're going to wreak your body if you keep staying up this late."

He nearly jumped at the sound. Holding his head in his hands he hadn't even seen her sitting on the floor in front of the sink with a glass of water clutched in her small hands.

"Thanks, Doctor, but I think I'm fine." His voice was hoarse and yearning for the water she had. He licked his chapped lips and leaned back in the chair.

"Do you want anything to drink or eat?"

It amazed him how gentle and quiet her voice was now.

"Why are you still awake? Aren't you afraid that it's going to wreck your body?" He sneered.

She smiled gently and stood with a small moan of pain. The noise she made caused his ears to prick up just a bit.

"Couldn't sleep, I didn't have a choice." She yawned, standing up on her toes to reach the glasses in the cabinet over the counter.

"It wasn't me." He muttered as she strode over to the fridge to get water from the dispenser. Before the glass was even rest on the table he had snatched it up and taken a gulp.

"I know," she breathed heavily. Instead of sitting across from him as usual she sat at the chair between the two ends and drank the rest of her own water before lazily resting her head in her palms. Her eyes drooped with sleep as she watched him intently. "Does he talk to you even when he's not in charge?" She asked after a long pause of hazy silence.

Jonathan shifted in his chair and took another drink before it appeared he was even considering the question. "I suppose sometimes. Not very often, and it is blurry sometimes. We can both be...in control for a lack of better words, but sometimes he takes over completely. I don't mind for the most part."

"Describe it to me."

He rubbed at his eyes and stretched his sore shoulders. It wasn't the most ideal time to describe himself to her.

"We're both there most of the time, but generally I am the most lucid and therefore I am in charge. He just...takes over when I get too upset. A side affect of my youth I take it. He's more violent and rash. Takes more pleasure in the pain of others. I find myself a bit indifferent to it, but he has to feel something or I fear that he may become to restless and force himself to the surface more often. I prefer myself to be in charge as that idiot would get us in more...trouble than it's worth." Each word struggled through his sleepy voice. It was impossible to tell whether or not Jude was even paying attention with her half shut eyelids.

"Mhmm, you do understand that medically speaking you are severely ill?" She asked in a hushed voice, struggling to keep her eyes open.

"I couldn't care less."

Sighing loudly she nestled her head into her arms and began taking even breaths.

"Do you plan on sleeping in the kitchen? I was planning on going outside tomorrow, but if you sleep out-"

"I'm going," she muttered. Jonathan watched as she scraped back her chair and stood to leave. She carefully placed her glass in the sink and shuffled out of the room. "And take a shower!" Her sleepy voice echoed back through the doorway.

"Meet me in the alley in roughly two hours." Jonathan turned in the opposite direction of where the grocery store was. In the shadow of dusk Jude shivered as a gust of wind flew through her jacket.

"You're not coming with me?"

His sighed, "I have other business to attend to. Do you not remember where the store is?"

"No, I do. I just..." She trailed off.

"Then what? Call me if you need anything." He huffed, turning on his heel.

She stood in the shivering cold, feeling cheated and dumb. There was so much of Gotham that she still didn't know about, and honestly she wasn't sure how to get to the store. But Jonathan was already gone and lost from her sight between the high buildings and setting sun.

Shrugging away the cold she turned in the other way and began walking.

About halfway back from the store she was lost. None of the same gray buildings looked like the ones that she knew she had passed an hour ago. It was completely dark outside now, and she was supposed to meet him back at the warehouse in twenty minutes. Panicked and distressed she soldiered on in what she assumed was the same general direction.

"Hey!"

The high voice nearly made her drop the bags in her hands shaking from the cold. They couldn't have been talking to her though. No one knew her here.

"Hey!" It called a little louder this time. A bony hand slammed down on her shoulder, paralyzing her. A scrawny man, smaller than Jonathan turned her until she was nearly facing him.

"What do you need?" She tried to sound polite.

"You just look like you're lost, and I figured I could help." He smiled brightly. It was a sketchy proposal, but he didn't look like much so she just shook her head coldly.

"I can find my way."

All she had to do was call Jonathan and he could help. This piece of garbage standing before her was useless and a creep.

"Y'know, I'm real sorry, but-"

A switchblade tore out of his sleeve and was aim for her stomach. Everything seemed to happen in slow motion. Her vision adjusted fully to the dark street and the blood rushed through her ears. The bags dropped from her hands. She could feel her pulse increasing by the millisecond. Her hand snatched his scrawny wrist and propelled the weapon into his face while she aimed for his groin with her foot.

The man watched in horror as the little woman before him slashed his cheek with his own knife. She was more intimidating than the girl had made her sound. Her eyes were a murky brownish color that only seemed to darken as the seconds ticked by. He had been kicked around before, by woman and men alike, but this knee to his manhood was stronger than he had ever felt before. Her face, waxy like the moonlight rising above them, seemed to contort into something verging on the side of monstrous. As blue veins glowed through her translucent skin he heard his wrist pop painfully. Her foot lift to kick his shoulder down so he was lying on his back winded and staring up. She loomed over him threateningly holding the knife to his neck.

"Why?"

That's all she said.

The knife pressed into his skin until little drops of warm blood fell down. It hadn't been in his contract to not tell who he was working for, and he was new to this game. His life was valued above hit-man silent code of conduct or whatever.

"Why?" Her voice sounded like a hiss. She pushed a tennis shoe clad foot into the most flimsy part of his rib cage.

"Some chick, Katrina Orlov, she sent me to kill yous. I don't have nothin' again ya, it's just my job. Y'know you could just let me-"

His words stopped when the knife was stabbed straight into his throat. The sickening squelch and pop of muscles and tendons echoed in his ears as the blood poured and spattered up. He tried to squirm to rip the thing out, but she was standing on both of his hands.

Jude wasn't sure what entirely had happened when she blinked a few hard times. There was a dead man lying on the concrete below her with a knife lodged in his throat. She remembered it like a little video clip from a blurred memory. It was the man that had aggressively offered to give her directions, but when he pulled the knife it was as if she hadn't been in control. Backing away from the body she realized something, and felt like crying.

She had been scared.

A bright smile was engraved onto her face and she swooped to pick up her purse. Pulling out her phone she beamed into the bright screen and dial the only number in the contacts.

"I think I am a bit lost. Could you come pick me up or tell me where to go?"

There was heavy sigh from the other side.

"I don't have the time or patience to tell you how, though I have no idea how you got yourself lost." Even his little quips couldn't tear down her excited mood. "Read the nearest building name to me."

"I'm right in front of Chestnut Law Offices." He made a sound of dissapointed recognition. "And don't sound so upset, I have a something for you." She giggled. The amount of silence from the other end was deafening.

"Nothing you could have would please me at the moment."

Jude rolled her eyes and hung up. Getting together all of the plastic bag strewn on the ground she sat on the cold, metal bench in front of the building and the dead man and waited.

He'll eat his words.

Yessss, I have been waiting so long to put Katrina Orlov in this story dear god. I know she was in the last chapter (I think?), but she comes out a little more here I think. Honestly she was my whole basis for the idea of this story and while she isn't going to be the only antagonist for Jude she is the first and she is my own little creation so I'm pleased. She's sort of an anti-Batman I guess? It should be obvious by now, but her mother was the Doctor that turned Jude into this, and now she has this silly vendetta out for Jude. Why was Jude scared by this scrawny hitman? Why did some scrawny guy decide to be a hitman I mean? I don't think I even have the answer to that one tbh (actually I do he just wanted to pay the bills for his ex their child because he still loves his kid dearly even though him and the ex don't want to be together anymore because they had this child when they v v young and have become different people so can't be together any long and he couldn't find any other work so decided that killing people is easiest ever since he got kinda kicked out of the drug trade when the gang he was with collapsed) no idea.

Anyhow, thank you so much for reading and have a good day!