Friday, April 18th, 2007

When Edward arrived at Penelope's office that morning, he was surprised at how agitated she was. "Edward!" she said, not even giving him time to hang up his coat before she approached him, her eyes flashing with concern. "Montoya and I went to Gordon with what Miguel Sanchez told us in interrogation. Montoya and Schrader went to the Sanchez house to speak with them yesterday and they were gone!"

Oh. Edward realized sheepishly that he hadn't gotten around to telling her what had happened. "They aren't in any danger if that's what you're worried about, Penelope."

"How do you-" Penelope's mouth dropped open a bit when she made the connection. "You got them out of Gotham, didn't you?" She put her hands on her hips and glared at him. "Why didn't you tell me!? They were the best chance we had at putting Bolton in jail!"

Edward was no stranger to facing off against angry women, but Penelope's wrath was something he tried to avoid. "I told them as much," he said, raising his hands a bit. "When I went to their home Monday, Mr. Sanchez told me that they'd received a threat. After what happened to their son, they weren't willing to risk anything happening to their daughter. They were already packed. I merely eased their passage."

Penelope seemed to deflate a bit and she slowly nodded. "I see," she sighed. "I understand why they left, but I wish you'd told me." Then her face softened a bit. "What about Ellen?"

Edward finished removing his coat and hung it up on the coat rack next to the door. "I took her with me to the North Docks to say her goodbyes," he said. "I also set up an email for her and her friend so they can stay in touch with each other. Once the Sanchez family are settled in, I'll be setting up a phone number as well for them as well." He turned to face Penelope and was surprised by the look on her face. She wasn't angry, she seemed...satisfied? "What?"

Penelope shook her head. "For someone who admits to not being a good person, sometimes you can do an acceptable impression of one."

Edward huffed a bit and ignored the fact that his face was flushing. "Was that a compliment? From you? Is the sky falling?"

Penelope rolled her eyes. "I don't know what I expected," she murmured.

Edward laughed a bit. "Indeed." He fiddled a bit with the head of his cane. "I told Ellen what's been going on."

Penelope's face went instantly back to its default, serious expression. "And?"

"She wants to help, which I firmly said no on. I only told her so that she knew to stay away from Bolton and anyone connected to Sharp or Strange."

Penelope nodded. "That's for the best." She turned on her heel and walked back to her desk, back to the business at hand. "Without her or the Sanchez family though, we can't make a case against Bolton for kidnapping."

"Don't concern yourself too much about Bolton," Edward said. A cold smirk formed on his face. "He's going to receive a sharp lesson."

Penelope looked at him with slightly widened eyes. "You're not going to-"

"Kill him? No," Edward reassured her. "The less you know, the better. But Bolton can't think that he can hurt my daughter without suffering some kind of consequences."

Penelope looked like she didn't know how to respond to that, but she relaxed slightly and continued on. "The GCPD coroner is standing by his autopsy. Now that Miguel's parents are gone, I can't come up with any sound reason to have a second one performed." She sat back down in her chair and leaned back. It occurred to Edward that she looked exhausted. "Montoya and I told Gordon everything that Miguel told us about Arkham."

Edward crossed the room and took the seat across from her, propping his cane up against the chair. "What did he say?"

"He said that he'd look into it, but with only Miguel's word, it would be difficult to launch any kind of investigation. After the Commission, he doesn't have much sway at City Hall." She raised a hand and rubbed the bridge of her nose, then looked back at Edward. "You don't happen to have any informants in Arkham, do you?"

"No," Edward admitted. "I used to, I remember that much, but most of the people I had either left or are dead, in all likelihood. I haven't been able to recruit anyone since I reformed. I know Machin used to have people in Sharp's circle, but he pulled them back last year. I can ask again. Perhaps sharing Miguel's fate with him will make him more cooperative."

"Or he'll double down," Penelope sighed. "Strange and Bolton are no doubt going to use Miguel as a warning to anyone else who might want to come forward." She brushed her bangs. "I feel like all we've been doing is reacting to them." Edward frowned and opened his mouth to comment when Penelope raised a hand. "I don't mean to minimize anything you've done Edward. But people are dying. I don't think that just collecting information on them is enough anymore. We need to start a counterattack."

Edward hummed and began to drum his fingers against the armrest of his chair. "What do you have in mind?"

"Well, turnabout is fair play. Strange and Sharp used that damn commission to undermine Gordon, GCPD, and anyone else who could oppose them. We can turn it around and use what's happening at Arkham to discredit them. Launch our own commission of sorts."

Edward leaned back and folded his arms across his chest. "It's not a bad idea," he admitted. "But you realize that I don't exactly have much in the way of credibility? That's why I've been conducting myself the way I have been in this case. I can't go public just yet without my actions being dismissed as the ravings of a former super-villain."

Penelope shot him a look. "I know that Edward, but I could."

Edward straightened in his chair. He'd just pulled Ellen back from throwing herself in danger, now Penelope was about to do the same. "You want to publically declare yourself an enemy of Sharp and Strange?"

"I testified on behalf of GCPD at the Commission. They probably already consider me an enemy on some level."

"Yes, but there's a difference between defending the idiots at GCPD and outright declaring war!"

Penelope narrowed her eyes at Edward. "The public needs to be aware of exactly what they're doing to the patients at Arkham, so something like this can never happen again! Sharp and Strange didn't just come out of nowhere. They grabbed power because of how broken mental health and law enforcement is in Gotham. We can't just get rid of them without addressing that!"

"There's a way to do that doesn't involve the possibility of-" Edward cut himself off. The possibility of you being taken away from me. He shook his head. "So you don't just want to get rid of Sharp and Strange," he said. "You want to go on a crusade. So did Harvey Dent once upon a time. Look at how well that turned out."

Penelope's face darkened. "Dent had issues that ran deeper than trying to take on organized crime. I'm not Dent. I know I can't do it by myself. But if me, Joan, Gordon, Aaron, Joe Bryant, and other people did it together...we could get the other staff at Arkham to talk, or we could exert so much external pressure that the Mayor wouldn't be able to ignore it. We could actually do some lasting good." She sighed, then looked down at her hands. "I know this isn't exactly what you signed up for when you confided in me last year, Edward. You don't have to be involved in this if you don't want to be. I'll keep your name out of it."

She was giving him a way out. He should probably take it. Let her go chasing her white whale while he continued on behind the scenes until he amassed enough information and dumped it, damn the consequences, as he'd intended all along. He didn't owe this city a thing. He looked at her again, at the determination in her eyes. She was going forward on this regardless of what he said or did. Just like at the Asylum with the TITAN, no doubt. Headstrong, stubborn thing, so convinced she was doing the right thing, so full of ambition, in a way that he or Jon had never been. He chuckled a bit. He must be out of his mind. "Oh no you don't," he said. "You're not getting rid of me that easily, Penelope."

Penelope looked back up at him with surprise. "You-"

"Will not be involved publically, and I'd prefer it if you kept our association close to the chest," he said. "And I reserve the right to back out. I'm no do-gooder and I never will be. I can't deny though that the idea of being the man behind the curtain has its appeal."

She smiled then, and it made Edward feel better about this whole idea. He didn't think it would amount to anything. Such crusades never did, in his experience. He listened to Penelope outline her next steps going forward, and he tried not to let on his misgivings. But if anybody could make this work, she could.

Saturday, April 19th, 2007

1:30 AM

For the third time in an hour, Hugo Strange reviewed the file on his desk. Nashton, Edward. Aliases, Edward Nigma, Edward Nygma, The Riddler, Coleman Reese, Arthur Wynne. Known associates... Strange had read this particular passage over and over again in the past week. Bolton hadn't asked too many questions about what exactly had happened on the bridge, fool that he was, but when Strange had heard about the bridge opening up, he'd known Nigma had been involved. And Nigma would not be involved in this unless he had a reason to be. He would not care about a random orderly and his sister unless...he grit his teeth. Unless Bolton was right. The girl who called herself Enigma really was his daughter. She couldn't be. Strange couldn't have missed that.

He read over the list of known associates Nigma had had over the years, particularly the female associates. From what information he'd obtained from Burns before Tetch's microchips had destroyed his frontal lobe, the girl was in her mid-teens, no older than sixteen and no younger than fourteen. She bore a striking resemblance to Nigma. He looked over the profiles of the three women who were known associates of Nigma's in the period of time the girl would have been conceived. Deirdre Vance, Nina Damfino, and Selina Kyle. The girl's physical description ruled out Kyle and Damfino as possible mothers, not to mention that neither woman had ever been pregnant. Vance preferred the company of women from all accounts, and also had never been pregnant. None of Nigma's known female associates could be her mother. Strange threw the file into his desk drawer with a frustrated grunt. How could this have happened? How could Nigma, and the nobody who had been the girl's mother, have kept this a secret from the world, from him for almost two decades? It wasn't possible! With a reluctant sigh, he pulled his cell phone out from his lab coat pocket. He had an overdue phone call to make.

A half hour later, and he had finished recounting the tale. His Master had been silent until he had stopped speaking. "I see. Is that all?"

Strange wet his lip. So far, his Master had taken this news better than he thought he would. "Yes. With your approval, I can send men to tail Nigma to her location and collect the girl."

"That will not be necessary," his Master's voice cut in like cold steel. "The fact that Nigma begat a whelp is beneath our notice. It changes nothing. What concerns me more, Strange, is the fact that you didn't already know about it. When you approached me with the Detective's identity and your vision for Gotham City, you assured me that there was no detail that you overlooked, no scenario that you hadn't accounted for. And now you tell me that you just discovered that Nigma has a daughter. It makes me wonder that if you missed something that insignificant, what else have you missed?"

"Nothing, I assure you," Strange said. He reached up to wipe the beads of sweat pooling on his brow. "We are still on track to begin Phase Two of our operation by the end of the year. This in no way derails us."

"Good. See that it doesn't."

May 15th, 2007

10:00 pm

Gordon stood by the lit signal and reached a hand into his coat pocket. He pulled out his pipe and with his other hand, lit a match. He'd taken two puffs out of his pipe when he heard the familiar sound of boots landing on the rooftop, and heavy footsteps crunching on gravel. "Commissioner. What do you have for me?"

Gordon took one last puff before removing the pipe from his mouth. "A damn mess, that's what I've got. It's about that business with Miguel Sanchez from last month."

Batman nodded. "Go on."

Gordon continued. "While he was in interrogation with Renee and Dr. Young, he alleged some pretty ugly things about how patients are treated at the Asylum."

The expression on Batman's face didn't change, not that Gordon expected it to. "I remember you told me about it in April. The Mayor still won't answer any questions about the allegations?"

"No," Gordon sighed. "You know how he is. Deaf, dumb and blind. He's standing by the Asylum's first autopsy of Goodman. He did, however, inform me at yesterday's City Council meeting that there are changes being implemented with regards to how much unsupervised interaction patients have with medical staff. Namely, patients no longer have any unsupervised contact with medical staff. Sharp claims it's for the safety of patients and the staff, but frankly, I'm not so sure about that." Gordon chuckled darkly and shook his head. "When I told Dr. Young about that, she just about hit the roof."

"Oh?"

"She's been pushing for an official inquiry for the last few weeks. She and Joan Leland. They've been trying to talk with old members of the Board as well as staff to get a movement going. It's difficult to track a lot of them down though. I've been reaching out to whoever I can, but most of the folks I was on good terms with are long gone. We need to get actual eyes and ears in the place."

"I'll do what I can on my end. Was there anything else?"

Gordon paused as he considered his next words. "It's about Lyle Bolton. Montoya and Young told me that they think he abducted Sanchez's sister to force him to confess to Goodman's murder, but when she and their parents disappeared, we couldn't make a kidnapping case against him."

"Has that changed?"

Gordon shook his head. "No, he's still attached at the hip with Sharp, but he's been having a bad few weeks. He came to the station last month raving and ranting about how his identity was stolen. Then his car was vandalized. Then just last week his apartment was broken into. He's getting wound pretty tight."

He could just see Batman's eyes narrowing. "Nigma."

"That's what I'm thinking, not that I can prove it. I tried to ask Dr. Young, but she didn't know anything about it."

"Do you think she's lying to cover for Nigma?"

Gordon shook his head. "No. I don't think she'd ever outright lie for him," he paused, then took another puff of his pipe. "But I also don't think she's been entirely forthcoming about her dealings with the man. Montoya said that she was getting information about Sanchez from him, but that she also wouldn't say why he was involved. I don't mind her keeping in contact with him, as long as nothing illegal is going on, but I don't like being in the dark about his motives."

There was a pause before Batman spoke. "I know why he was involved with the Sanchez case," he said finally. "Jim, Nigma has a daughter who is, was, friends with Sanchez's sister."

Gordon dropped his jaw, and his pipe, in shock. That had been about the last thing he'd ever suspected. "A daughter!? Nigma has a daughter!? How long have you known about this!?"

"Since last December," the vigilante admitted. "Nigma himself only found out about her a few months before that. Do you remember that incident at Saul's Deli last August? About a person who stopped a robbery while claiming to be the Riddler's daughter?"

Gordon did, now that Batman mentioned it. He'd asked Harvey to look into it, and he'd told him that Nigma denied having a child, and had nothing to say about the whole affair. Between that and the masked person never showing up again, Gordon had written it off as some random thrill seeker. He leaned down to pick up his pipe and dusted it off. "I'll be damned. Nigma's a father. There's something I'd never thought I'd say. That explains why he's been tormenting Bolton. I assume that's what Dr. Young was holding back from me and Montoya. Well, the secret's safe with me. I can understand her not wanting to expose his daughter to any danger. There's a lot of people with a grudge against Nigma who'd take advantage of that."

"This time, at least. Jim, I'm concerned that he's privy to anything she does with GCPD and against Mayor Sharp. And if she's withheld information for him once, she'll do it again. We have to remember her history as well."

Gordon sighed, then reached up to rub the back of his neck. "That's true, but I really don't think that's what's happening this time. I don't think she'd get dragged into something by him, and I don't see Nigma getting involved in a campaign to clean up Arkham. Dr. Young can be difficult to work with, but I think she's genuinely trying to make up for what happened two years ago. I don't think she'd let Nigma get in the way of that."

"Maybe," Batman said. He walked over to the side of the GCPD's roof. "I'd like to be sure of that." He pulled a grappling hook from his belt and fired it towards the next building over, then flew off into the night sky. Gordon watched him disappear and shook his head. He may not trust Nigma any further than he could throw the man, but he trusted Dr. Young. He just hoped she wouldn't betray that trust.

May 25th, 2007

12:30 pm

Out of all the doctors Penelope had worked with at Arkham and were still there, Sarah Cassidy was the one she felt would be the most likely to come forward. She'd been of a gentler character than most of the other doctors had been, which was less than desirable when dealing with patients like Zsasz, but hopefully, would come in handy now. It had taken weeks, but Joan had finally convinced her to meet with them at the same little French bistro she'd had lunch with Wayne at back in February. Cassidy had beat them there, sitting in at a small table in the corner of the outdoor patio, looking down at an untouched cup of tea. Penelope took her seat across from Cassidy and was struck at the other doctor's appearance. She looked run down, her bright red hair loosely gathered in a ponytail. Her face was pale and dark circles were visible under her eyes. She looked like a woman who hadn't slept well for some time. Or a woman with a guilty conscience. If it was the latter, that would make this meeting go smoother. "Hello, Sarah," she said formally, but not unkindly.

Cassidy did not acknowledge her but gave Joan a slight nod as the older woman sat next to Penelope. "How have you been?" Joan asked her, more warmly than Penelope had.

Cassidy shrugged. "Alright, I guess. Why did you want to see me?"

Joan looked to Penelope and gave her a quick nod. Penelope took the invitation to speak and leaned forward, folding her hands in front of her. "It's about the asylum."

"What about it?" Something in Cassidy's tone shifted from almost broken down to testy. "You haven't been back at the Asylum since you resigned, either of you. Why are you asking about it now?"

Did Cassidy resent them for leaving? Penelope pushed down her irritation. "I spoke with Miguel Sanchez before he died, Sarah." She watched as Cassidy's grip around her cup tightened. "He told me how the patients are being treated at Arkham."

"And?" Cassidy asked.

Penelope took a breath before she said something she'd regret. "Commissioner Gordon, Joan and I want to launch an investigation into Arkham's care of the patients, but we need a staff member or someone on the board to corroborate what Miguel told us."

Cassidy laughed a bit. "So that's why you've been trying to call me. Typical you, Penelope. You never reached out to us unless you needed something. Unless it was relevant to your research."

Penelope exchanged a quick look at Joan, who cleared her throat. "Sarah, if what Miguel said is true, then something needs to be done about it. Strange can't get away with mistreating people under his care. All we need is for you to tell us the truth."

Cassidy shook her head, and Penelope understood. This wasn't just a tired or guilty woman. This was a woman who was terrified. "I can't. I can't lose my job, I can't risk losing everything because of him."

"Sarah," Penelope interrupted. "Think about your patients. You're their doctor, that means you need to be their advocate too. If you tell us what you know, more people may follow you! We can get Strange removed-"

"So you can do what, exactly?" Cassidy asked. She looked up at Penelope finally, and the anger in her hazel eyes took her back. "Take your old job back? Take Strange's place so you can remake Arkham in your own vision? I'm a psychiatrist too, Penelope. Don't you think I know what you really want? You want to swoop in and clean up our mess and show the whole world just what a brilliant doctor you really are, just like you tried to do with TITAN two years ago. How many people are you going to get killed this time trying to show off?" She trembled a bit from suppressed sadness or rage, Penelope wasn't sure. "If you really care about the patients at Arkham, then where the Hell have you been for the last two years?"

Joan cut in before Penelope could. "Sarah," she said in a low tone. "Don't make this personal. Miguel Sanchez died trying to speak up for the patients-"

"You think I don't know that!?" Cassidy said, raising her voice. "You think we didn't talk about it, how cruel the guards were, how much Strange was cutting back on treatment, how many people he was taking to his office that we weren't allowed to see again!?"

"Calm down," Penelope said, taking a quick look around to make sure the other people in the cafe weren't listening in. The other diners seemed to carry out, not noticing or caring about them. "So what Miguel said is true. Why aren't the other doctors speaking up about this? Where is the Board-"

"You really don't get it, do you, Penelope?" Cassidy asked. She narrowed her eyes and pointed a finger accusingly at her. "The Board stands by Strange on everything. All the new security measures, the cutbacks on patient care, the free reign Strange has in his experiments. That was all because of you. Because of your experiment. You opened Pandora's Box, Penelope. Didn't you ever stop to think that there'd be consequences for experimenting on Bane?"

Penelope shut her eyes and took a breath. Everything Cassidy said wasn't new to her. It had been what she'd told herself every night for the past two years. "No," she said finally. "I didn't. I have to live with that every day for the rest of my life, Sarah."

"Good," she heard Cassidy say. "I hope you have a very long life, Penelope. I'm not going to risk everything just so you can ease your conscience." Penelope opened her eyes and watched as Cassidy reached down to grab her bag and get up from the table. "Goodbye, Joan. I'm sorry, but I can't get involved in this. Don't call me again." She had just walked past Joan and was on her way out when Penelope found it in her to speak.

"I'm not going to stop, Sarah," she said. "And if you know what Strange does and you do nothing about it, that makes you just as guilty as him and me."

Cassidy froze. She turned and looked back at the two women with a loom of despair in her eyes. "You never cared about anything besides your work before, Penelope," she said in a broken voice. "Why did you start now?" Before Penelope could respond, Cassidy turned and fled from the cafe.

Penelope sighed and nearly startled when she felt Joan's hand on her shoulder. "Are you alright?"

Penelope shrugged her off. "I'm fine Joan," she said with more conviction than she felt. "We'll just have to find another way in. Maybe one of the former board members might-"

"Hello, ladies!"

Penelope and Joan looked up to see none other than Bruce Wayne approach their table, jovial grin on his face. "Bruce!" Joan said in surprise. "What are you doing here?"

"Well, this is one of my favorite places in downtown," Wayne said, taking Cassidy's vacant seat on the other side of the table from the two women. He gave Penelope a wink and a nod. "Nice to see you again, Penelope."

Penelope was about to come up with an excuse to leave when the proverbial light bulb went off in her head. Bruce Wayne was a former board member of Arkham who had a less than pleasant history with Sharp. If anyone could ratchet enough pressure on the Mayor's office, it would be him. "It's nice to see you too," she said. "Actually, there's something I'd like to discuss with you."

May 30th, 2007

10:15 AM

The second anniversary of the Arkham Riot went off without a hitch, without the rain clouds and killer on the loose to dampen attendance. It was a beautiful, warm Tuesday. Sharp stood in front of a microphone, speaking in his booming, pompous tone about how much progress he had made in his first term as Mayor of Gotham City to cut down on street crime, and to, in his words, (or rather, the speechwriter's words,) "Prevent the tragedy that occurred at Arkham from ever happening again." He was flanked by Lyle Bolton, who alternated between glaring out at the crowd and nodding at the Mayor's invective. To the far left, as distant as could be from Sharp, was Gordon, who stood with his arms folded across his chest, looking like he'd rather be in Arkham than in the park.

Ward stood on the right side of the stage, just out of sight of the crowd, next to Detective Schrader, who had volunteered to take the stage with the Commissioner. Schrader slightly nudged him with his elbow. "What's the matter with Bolton? He looks even more amped up than usual."

Ward leaned in to whisper. "His car was towed this morning. An anonymous caller complained about it being illegally parked."

Schrader chuckled. "That's what, the third time this month? Poor dumb bastard."

Ward wished he could share Schrader's amusement. Instead, he scanned the crowd. He'd been here last year when Nigma had hijacked the ceremony by apprehending Patrick Horner. Sharp had never forgiven the man for upstaging him that day. Nigma didn't seem to be here now at least. Ward continued to gaze at the crowd, his attention being caught by three figures, in particular, standing in the middle with Joe Bryant's Survivor Group. Bruce Wayne, Joan Leland, and Penelope Young. Ward's eyes narrowed at Young especially. There she was, next to Batman the single greatest threat to Sharp and Strange and everything they were working for standing next to a man who could cause just as much trouble, and still Sharp couldn't see it. He'd even offered her a chance to be on stage next to him, which she had respectfully declined. No, standing with Joe Bryant's group, she was making her allegiance known. Standing next to Bruce Wayne and Joan Leland, she was making her intentions clear. She had to be dealt with, soon.

"You spot Young?" He heard Schrader ask.

Ward nodded quickly. "She's with Wayne and Leland, with Bryant and his group."

"Trying to recruit Wayne for her little project, no doubt."

Ward turned to Schrader. "Where is she on that?"

"Well, Cash and Montoya are on board. The rest of the GCPD are steering clear until the Commissioner makes an opening move. Wayne getting involved is going to speed the process up a bit. How soon until Phase Two kicks in?"

"Not soon enough," Ward said. "We'll need at least until the end of the year when the new City Hall opens. Sharp is going to have to keep busy and distract the media and the public." He grit his teeth. "Goddamn, that insufferable little bitch!"

"No kidding," Schrader agreed. A cocky grin came over his face. "You should have seen her face when I said she should have requested that Sanchez be put on a suicide watch in County. It was priceless."

"She doesn't suspect you were involved in that, does she?"

"No," Schrader reassured him. "She's smart, but she's got blind spots the size of Wayne's trust fund." He lowered his voice and leaned in close to Ward's ear. "I could take of her, you know."

Ward shook his head. "Strange said we can't kill her. Not until we come up with a way to contain Nigma."

The blond detective snorted a bit. "Nigma? Really? Batman I get, but why is Strange worried about Nigma?"

"You should be too," Ward warned. "Nigma may not have been as psychotic as Joker or Crane, but he was just as dangerous. It would be a mistake to underestimate him, even if he is reformed."

Schrader took a step back and shrugged. "If you say so. So, we can't touch a hair on his little girlfriend's head." A smirk came to his face. "It's not like she hasn't pissed off any other, very dangerous people."

The hair on the back of Ward's head stood up. "Not the Joker. We can't risk that kind of collateral damage-"

"I wasn't thinking about the Joker."

"Who-" Then Ward understood perfectly. "He's not in Gotham-"

"No," Schrader said. "But with your connections and the right bait, he could be."

Ward rubbed his chin. "We'll need to run it by Strange first," he said. "After that fiasco Bolton caused, he's cautious."

"But we are going to run it by him?"

Ward took one last look at where Young stood. She wasn't looking at the stage, instead, it appeared as if she were looking through the crowd for something. Or someone. She would not undo their work, just because now she felt like being a decent human being. "Yes."

Bruce observed Dr. Young while she was looking through the crowd. He had a good idea who she searching for. As much as he agreed with her cause to open an investigation at Arkham, his association with her also provided him with the best access he could get to whatever information Nigma had without directly confronting the man. "Looking for someone?" he asked.

Dr. Young startled a bit, then looked back towards the stage with that same intent look. "I thought perhaps a friend of mine would be here," she admitted. "I don't see him though." Her face softened just a bit. To anyone else, it would be unnoticeable, but Bruce caught it. "I'm sure he has other obligations."

Bruce nodded, then turned his attention back to the stage, then to the large black stone that had the name of every person who had died at Arkham engraved on it.

Every name but one.

At that moment, far away from Gotham Central Park and the Memorial, Edward parked his car in an alleyway between the old Falcone shipping plants in the Northernmost point of Gotham's Industrial District. He stopped for a moment, then leaned back in his seat and closed his eyes. He wasn't sure he was ready for this. He wasn't sure he would ever be ready for this, but no one else at the park, no one else in this city, would be mourning Jonathan Crane today. He unbuckled himself and got out of his car, shutting the door behind him. He walked out of the alleyway, down the street, past the abandoned, boarded up buildings and the occasional vagrant who was still sleeping. He could hear the sounds of seagulls above him, of people buzzing in the few still open plants a few blocks to his left, the sound of the surf. Finally, he made it to his destination at the end of the road. Off in the distance, he could see Arkham Island. He could still make up the bluffs, he could just see the top of the Medical Center, he could make out what remained of the Botanical Gardens, the remains of Ivy's giant root still sticking out where the roof had been. This was as close as he could get, would ever get to Jonathan's grave. He sighed and removed his hat.

"Hello, Dearest," he said. He shook his head. "I didn't bring you any flowers. I remember you weren't exactly the sentimental type." He ran a hand through his hair, slightly mussing the gelled back style. "I'm sorry I wasn't here last year, but I was a bit busy. I think I was still a bit in denial, too." He sighed. "I remember you a bit more now, at least. Mostly what a horrid ghoul you were at times." He wet his lip. "I have a daughter, you know. Her name is Ellen. She's a willful little spitfire. A chip off the old block, you'd say. I wish you could have met her. Penelope and I are friends now, too. She's...she's something, Jon. I don't remember if you ever told me that she was a student of yours, but every now and again, I look at her and I swear I can see you, just a bit. She glares at me like you did sometimes, at least." His vision became blurry and he reached up to rub his eyes. "Damn you, Jonathan," he said. "Did you have to die on Arkham Island? Couldn't you at least have left me a proper grave to visit, like a decent human being?" He laughed a bit then. "But then I suppose, you weren't exactly a decent human being, now were you?" He looked back over the Island. "You were you," he said. "Unapologetically you. I loved you for it. I still love you, Jonathan. Sometimes I hate that I remember that. Othertimes, I wouldn't trade what I can remember about you for the world." He rubbed his eyes again, then took one last look at the Asylum. "Someday," he promised. "After Strange is gone, I'll go to Arkham and mourn you properly. Until then, goodbye, Jon." He put his hat back on his head and walked back to his car.

Tuesday, May 30th, 2007

3:00 pm

Penelope finally arrived back at her office building, her spirits higher than they had been for a long time. She, Joan, Wayne, and Aaron had had a productive meeting with Joe Bryant and his group after the ceremony. Next Monday, Wayne and Bryant would approach Mayor Sharp with their concerns about Arkham Asylum. If the Mayor continued to brush them off, Wayne would go to the media. Sharp couldn't ignore them then. She opened the door to her office to fill out her patient schedule for the following week and was surprised to see that she had a visitor, sitting at his usual spot on top of her desk. "Edward?"

He looked at her as she walked in, less animated than he usually was, but no less happy to see her. "Good afternoon, Penelope."

Penelope entered her office and approached him, too surprised to see him to scold him about sitting on her desk. "Not that I'm not glad to see you," she said truthfully. "But what are you doing here? Is something wrong?"

"No," he said. "I just wanted to see you. I realized something today. It's been a year since we crossed paths again, hasn't it?"

Oh. Penelope nodded as she realized that he was right. "Yes, it has."

Edward chuckled a bit, then hopped off the desk and walked towards her, meeting her by the chairs in front of her desk. He smiled at her, though she realized it wasn't quite reaching his eyes. "A whole year. It feels like longer, hasn't it? After all, in just a year I've caught several killers and would-be killers, uncovered a conspiracy, fought and reconciled with friends, made new friends, met my daughter...not too bad for one year."

"Not too bad at all, really." So much had changed since she met Edward again, from her own view of the man to the direction of her life. A year ago, she wouldn't have imagined that she'd be here, standing before him in her office. A year ago, she hated the man. Now...he was as dear to her as any friend she'd ever had. She brushed her bangs as she considered the man before her. "There's something I've been meaning to say to you for a while," she said, folding her fingers together. "When we first met-well, when you broke into my office last year, I..." she let out a little sigh. "I wasn't in a good mental space at the time, and I took it out on you. I said things that I shouldn't have said. I want to say," she paused again. She'd never been good at this. "I wanted to say I'm sorry."

Edward merely shrugged. "I seem to remember giving as good as I got, my dear doctor. And I was the one who broke into your office after all. So while your apology is appreciated, it's not at all necessary. Besides," he said with a warm look on his face. "I think we've more than made it up to each other over the past year."

Penelope smiled at him, then realized just how close they were to each other. She cleared her throat, then walked past him back to her desk. "I had a good meeting with Joan, Aaron, Wayne and Joe Bryant's group today."

"Did you now?" Edward asked. "I'm still not quite sure how to feel about Wayne getting involved."

"Well, he has valuable insight about Sharp he can share with us. And he's Bruce Wayne. He can't be ignored that easily." She looked up to see that he still looked a bit concerned. "Is there something about him I should know, Edward?"

Edward shook his head, slowly. "Not that I can think of off the top of my head, but sometimes, it feels like there was something I used to know about him." He shrugged again, then sat down in the chair in front of her desk. He took off his glasses and Penelope realized for the first time that his eyes were red-rimmed. He'd been crying earlier.

"Edward," she said with understanding. "How are you feeling?"

He gave her a wry look. "Not as bad as I thought I might. Worse than last year, but then again, I was a bit distracted then." He rubbed his hand across his face. "To tell the truth," he said. "There was something I wanted to ask you today."

"Yes?"

Edward dropped his hand and looked plaintively at her. "Can you talk to me a bit about Jonathan?"

Penelope nodded. "Of course."