"You got him to give you a grapple gun," Lucius said with only the slightest hint in his voice of sounding impressed.

"Yes," Adriana smiled. "I've used it over a dozen times so far. I love it."

"Only a dozen?" Lucius asked. "You're on the news every half hour. Are you sure you aren't wearing yourself too thin? The job of Gotham's entire police force is a bit much for one person. You're putting them out of work."

"I'm fine with it," she said. "I love what I'm doing. I'm not wearing myself thin."

"Are you entirely sure about that? You look a bit tired."

"I'm totally sure," she said. "The grapple gun is really helping me a lot. Great job designing it by the way."

"Thank you," Lucius said as his secretary knocked at the door.

"Come in," Lucius said and she walked over handing him a file.

"The statements you asked for this morning," she said pleasantly.

"Thank you very much," Lucius said and put on his glasses. "Would you mind giving us about twenty minutes, take messages for all calls."

"Of course," she said before leaving. "You won't be disturbed."

"So..." Adriana said after the secretary was gone. "Am I... in trouble or something?"

"I'm not supervising or commanding you. Why would you be in trouble with me?" he asked in such a way that it sounded like he knew something and was just waiting for her to come out with it.

"Maybe because...Bruce asked me..well Shade..to help him with the Joker," she said. "To find him. And I kinda agreed too..after I swore to you I would stay away from him."

"Perhaps if he has enough confidence in you, when it involved the Joker, perhaps I should too," Lucius said thoughtfully.

"Really?" Adriana asked him.

"Yes," Lucius replied. "If he thinks that you both can overcome Gotham's Joker crisis together, and he has worked with you in the field a few times so far, then perhaps he is right."

"Yeah but..." Adriana said. "I mean, maybe I could handle it on my own. If the Batman needs Shade's help to finally get the Joker then...maybe-"

"You already know what I think about that," Lucius said, his tone very fatherly as he took off his glasses. "No one can stop you from going after him. But I think you know by now that both Bruce and I believe that Shade needs a partner to handle the Joker safely."

"I might surprise you," Adriana said and started to laugh, her laugh sounding a bit strange even to herself. She could hear Lucius' thoughts. He assumed she must have had too much wine with her lunch. But she knew that she hadn't eaten breakfast or lunch. All she had was gulps of the potion, which was almost gone, before dashing out onto the train...onto the bus...into cabs, all around the city. She couldn't stop..she didn't want even one person in Gotham to suffer or be hurt if she could help them.

"The Joker may surprise you," Lucius said. "Which is something I don't want to happen. If Bruce is willing to partner up I think you should take the opportunity. Also, since he is obviously impressed with the work that you are doing..enough to seek assistance from you...I see no reason why you should refrain from revealing who you are to him."

"I'll think about it," Adriana responded.

.

.

.

"This was meant to last for over a month," Madame Twyla said to Adriana as she held the empty glass. "Minimum. And now you need more in less than a week."

"Yes," Adriana said and looked at the watch Bruce had given her on Madame Twyla's wrist. Adriana herself was wearing the same watch that she had purchased online as a replacement. "I need a bit more this time.."

Madame Twyla looked at Adriana and sighed.

"It doesn't seem dangerous to take it more frequently," Adriana said. "I've been using it a few times a day and I love it."

"Do you remember each time that you took it?" Madame Twyla asked.

"Well.." Adriana answered honestly. "No. But nothing bad has happened."

The times that Adriana could remember taking swallows of the potion, the bottle was a little more empty than she had remembered. Meaning that she had been using it and having enormous memory lapses. But each time, she saw herself on the news, doing good in Gotham..saving people, businesses, and more..She didn't need the memories. She knew that the substance worked.

"I have already warned you," Madame Twyla said.

"You said I would be acting out of character or experiencing illness or memory loss.." Adriana said. "I haven't been acting out of character or sick. And nothing that I lost memory of was bad...all is going well."

"Well..I must say your body seems very tolerant of these substances," Madame Twyla said. "That doesn't mean that things could not change."

"I don't think they will," Adriana said, remembering what Sidi had told her about only removing part of her gift. She told her she would suffer, her gift would malfunction..but so far none of that had happened. She felt perfectly fine. "Plus, I already signed that paper releasing you from any liability if anything happens."

"Fine," Madame Twyla said. "I will prepare more. Come back tomorrow."

"Okay," Adriana said. "Actually...you don't have anything now? Just a little for me to use today?"

Madame Twyla gave her a look and Adriana felt her thoughts. She thought Adriana sounded dependent. She didn't even want to go a day without the potion. To Madame Twyla, Adriana sounded a bit like an addict.

"Yes," Madame Twyla said. "Another bottle the same size as this one I gave you before."

"Okay," Adriana said, realizing Madame Twyla was nothing like Sidi. She was willing to give Adriana anything she wanted..for a price. "How much will it be?"

"I like the watch," Madame Twyla said.

"My watch again?" Adriana replied. "I mean...you already have one-"

"I like it," Madame Twyla said.

"Do you know much these things cost?" Adriana hissed, realizing her anger was coming through in her voice in a way they it never had before. She sounded almost evil. She took a deep breath and swallowed, gathering herself.

"Yes," Madame Twyla said, not missing a beat. "The watch for another 20 dose bottle. Four watches for two gallons."

"Why can't I just pay you cash? The watches come from overseas...That will take a while to come in the mail and I might use this up again-"

"How many days for the watches to come?"

"I don't know..3?"

"You want to take 20 doses in three days," Madame Twyla laughed.

"No, I don't want to... but just in case-"

"What other jewelry do you have?" Madame Twyla smiled. "You are a rich lady."

"Worth the same as four watches? $130 grand?" Adriana huffed. "Nothing. I don't have anything worth that."

"Too bad," Madame Twyla said and walked out of the room to retrieve the blue potion.

After she was out of the room Adriana let out a loud sigh of annoyance. Her blood was boiling and she felt a surge of fury that made her want to smash some of the bottles in the room. She wasn't used to feeling this way..it felt like it was taking all of the energy in her body to control herself. Her eyes fluttered closed and she massaged her temples before opening her eyes again. Her eyes fixed on a tray of red bottles on the shelf in front of her. Her arm seemed to move on its own as she swiped one of the small bottles and tucked it into her pocket.

"What the hell am I doing?" Adriana asked herself and rolled her eyes. She reached back into her pocket to put the bottle back but Madame Twyla was already entering through the door.

"Here," Madame Twyla handed her another bottle of the blue solution.

"Thanks," Adriana said nervously as she quickly took off her watch and handed it over.