"Oh, hey," Sophie said in surprise.
"Hey," Kate replied, glancing up with a quick smile before returning to her notes.
"I figured you'd be out for the night," Sophie said, slipping out of her jacket. It was Saturday, and Sophie had never known Kate to dawdle at the chance to hit up a party.
"I thought I'd stay in tonight," Kate said with a shrug of indifference.
"Really?"
"Yea," Kate said, looking up and failing to comprehend the quizzical look plastered on Sophie's face. "What's that?" she scowled, pointing at Sophie's scrunched brow.
"Are you feeling ok?"
"Yes?" Kate asked, her own brow narrowing. "Why?"
"I… I don't know," Sophie admitted. "Do… are you studying all night or-?"
"Nearly two years as roommates and that's the question you came up with?"
"Right… sorry," Sophie said.
"Actually I uh, I thought maybe we could hang out?"
"What?"
"If you're free, I mean. Maybe grab dinner and watch a movie?"
"A movie?" Sophie asked, perplexed by Kate's suggestion. They'd certainly spent more time together, but they'd never socialized - at least not alone.
"Yea. They're these stories for screens. It's like a television show but like, four times longer and-"
"I know what movies are," Sophie scowled, struggling to contain a smirk at Kate's chuckle. "What did you have in mind?"
"Have you ever seen Zorro?"
"What do you want?"
It was strange seeing Alice in orange. It was even stranger hearing the resignation in her voice through the telephone. That resignation carried to her face: her eyes were dimmed and lame - they lacked the classically childish mischief Sophie had come to recognize.
While Sophie found relief in the thick layer of acrylic between them, it also left her struggling to understand why Alice had done it: why had she turned herself in? When news of Alice's arrest had circulated around Crows' headquarters, Sophie imagined it was all part of some grander plot to… well, she wasn't quite sure what, but she figured it was something. But now that she saw slumped shoulders and lack of spark in Alice's eye, she knew this wasn't some larger scheme. Something in Alice had changed.
"What are you doing in here?" Sophie asked.
"Isn't that obvious? Even a tiny Crow brain like yours should be able to figure that one out."
Sophie refrained from letting her eyes roll in annoyance. Of course she knew why Alice belonged here: she was a wanted murderer who, even when given the opportunity at redemption, continued to pursue a path of destruction. That wasn't the question though. For as violent as she had been, she'd somehow eluded capture. This was a mix of incompetence on the part of the Crows and GCPD, yes, but it was predominantly because she was a known character. It was easier leaving one baddie out in the streets if it meant crippling the desires of others to fight for the mantle of the city's worst villain. It was a classic 'the enemy of my enemy is my friend' relationship. It was symbiotic. It worked as its own form of crime deterrence.
That was until Black Mask showed up. Alice's relevance tapered but so did her presence in the city. She could have slipped under the radar and escaped to a new kind of freedom. Instead, she walked across the Arkham estate and knocked on its front door like she was arriving at a friend's house for a birthday party.
"No one was pursuing you. You gave yourself up - why?"
"It felt like a good time to retire," Alice crooned. "And Arkham has all the things a good retirement home should: three meals a day, turn down service, someone who launders my uniforms and brushes my teeth," she rattled off, spreading her lips wide to mockingly show off her pearly whites.
Sophie wasn't buying it, and her expression said as much.
"Let's just say my conscience was abducted by a thirteen year old twerp living rent free in my head."
"What?" Sophie asked, confused by Alice's riddle of words. She shook her head, unwilling to play Alice's game. "It's doesn't matter-"
"Doesn't it? She's why you're here isn't it?"
Sophie's eyes glanced up and locked with Alice's. A knowing smile curled over her cheeks, penetrating Sophie's attempted stoicism and revealing her true motivations.
"What if she's not gone?" Sophie whispered into the phone.
"Can't sleep?" Alice asked mockingly. "Insomnia does terrible things to people, and you, dear, have the bags to prove it."
"What? No, I… I mean I saw her. Or at least, part of her."
"Snakebite doesn't actually change the past, Soph."
"Look, I was tracking down a lead about Black Mask's production line and was attacked by a woman," Sophie explained quickly, not wanting Alice to interrupt anything. "Her mask came off and it… her eyes were… they were her's. At one point she was… she was going to kill me; she had the chance. She had her hands around my throat and then… and then she stopped. She pulled back. She was… it was like she was scared; like she had realized something. It sounds crazy, I know-"
"Enigma."
The word slipped out of Alice's mouth so quietly that Sophie barely heard it.
"What?" Sophie asked, startled by the look on Alice's face. Her gaze was fixed on Sophie's, her eyes deep in thought - in a memory.
"Find Enigma. Find Enigma, and you might find what you're after."
a/n: 'Alice in Arkham?!' you ask?
Yes. I have this dream redemption story arc for Alice that involves her choosing to become good and that includes turning herself in. Having only read summaries of the episodes, I'm speaking fairly blindly, but I'm confused by the direction Alice is taking in season 2: She is in this weird limbo of a potential redemption arc but then regularly still does villainy stuff. In my imaginary world, it would be interesting to see Alice give herself up and retired her character for a few episodes. I also recognize that she is an incredibly effective role to keep active in every episode, but I'm not writing a 20-episode tv show - I'm making a story up in the privacy of my home over the course of 72 hours. And in this world, Alice disappears for a time only to be called in as a consultant of sorts to deal with a new wave of baddies. Maybe there's a world where she takes a Suicide Squad direction but without the whole nanite bombs inserted into her neck thing.' All of this will remain swimming in my head, but I wanted to shed light on the sudden shift from where the show seems headed.