*Twelve years ago*
When the month ended, Haly's Circus packed up to move to the next city. Alyssa had been there to see them off, waving and chasing the trailers for as long as she could.
She had promised Jerome that they'd see each other again when the circus came back to Gotham. Jerome had believed her, and it was the only thing that kept him going the rest of the year.
Come the following April, when the circus passed through Kansas City, his mom met with the same man she always did - the man with the snake tattoo.
It shouldn't have bothered him. He ought to be used to it by now. But the way they made beating him into a game...
He'd run from the trailer the first chance he got, curling in on himself and crying. He wanted to get out of here, he wanted Alyssa. She cared about him, she protected him, she always did.
Sniffing slightly, Jerome reached into the pocket of his jacket and pulled out the small snow globe Alyssa had bought for him. It was barely bigger than his hand, with a smooth silver base, and the scene in the dome was a miniature version of Gotham City. Usually looking at it brought him comfort, but now it only made him cry all the more.
"Why are you crying Jerome?" Mr. Cicero, the blind fortune teller asked, coming up to him. Jerome had never understood why the blind man seemed to see everything, Alyssa had found him slightly creepy and had always pulled him closer to her side when he was around.
"Its my birthday." he sniffed. "And my mom and the snake guy are beating me."
If a blind man's gaze could harden, Jerome was sure it would have then. "This world doesn't care about you or anyone else, Jerome. Better to realize that now."
"N-no, that-that's not true." he shook his head. "Alyssa, the girl from Gotham, she cares about me."
Mr. Cicero scoffed. "You really think that girl is waiting for you to return? You were just an idle distraction, my boy. I doubt she even remembers your name."
"You're wrong!" he snapped, standing with a jolt. "She does care about me, she does!" he shouted.
She had to...
*The following July*
When Haly's Circus finally returned to Gotham, Jerome was scolded nearly all day for being so distracted while they set up. But he barely noticed; he was waiting for opening night. Alyssa would be there, of course she would, she promised.
He waited at the picnic tables for what seemed like hours. Really it was only about ten minutes.
"J!" his head snapped up when he heard the nickname. "There you are! I-oof!"
Jerome had cut her off when he flung himself at her, wrapping his arms around her as tightly as he could.
"Missed you too, kid." she chuckled, running her fingers through his hair.
"You came. I-I didn't think you'd come to see me again..." he muttered, admitting the fear that had been gnawing at him for months.
"Well you're a dummy." Alyssa smiled. "A promise is a promise, Jerome."
She pulled away and they sat down at the table. Jerome wasn't sure what he was feeling - everything was mess. She'd come, just like she said she would, just like he had believed she would, but if he was honest with himself he didn't know why she had.
"Why did you come back?" he asked in a small voice. "I-it can't just be the promise you made."
Alyssa sighed and leaned back against the table. "You see all those stars up there, J?"
Jerome looked up. As always, Gotham was cloudy, but there were spaces in between the cloud cover that revealed the twinkling stars.
"According to my science teacher, they're all billions of miles away. And thinking about that makes me feel really small." she looked over at him. "But then I think about you. The one star that I get to see up close. And when I'm with you, I don't feel that small." she shrugged. "That's why I came back."
"You think I'm a star?"
"Are you kidding? You're the most talented person I've ever seen! If you're this good now, I can only imagine how amazing you'll be when you get older. You're gonna take the world by storm kid."
Jerome beamed and hugged her tightly, having no other way of expressing how grateful he was that she believed in him.
*Now*
"What's harder to catch the faster you run?"
"Your breath." Edward answered automatically, turning around. "Alyssa. Lovely to see you."
""And you." Alyssa smiled. "I brought you a present." she held up a small bottle of green liquid.
"Where did you get that?" Edward's eyes widened as he took it from her.
"One of my kids swiped it from someone. Matches the description of the broken bottle you told me about, I figured you might want to test the real thing instead of traces."
"Oh, you are brilliant!" he grinned.
"I know." Alyssa nodded. "Have to be to keep up with you."
Edward beamed and was about to set to work when the door to his office opened.
"Oh." the blonde woman in glasses stood there awkwardly. "I didn't know you were busy, Mr. Nygma."
"Not at all." Edward said quickly, making Alyssa frown. He didn't notice. "What can I do for you, Ms. Kringle?"
"You forgot to sign out the files you took again." she said, looking annoyed. "And you still haven't returned the ones from the last case you worked on."
"Ah! How silly of me! I'll get those for you right away!" he ran to the other side of the room.
Meanwhile, the woman turned to Alyssa.
"I'm sorry, I don't mean to be rude. Kristen Kringle." she held out her hand.
"Alyssa Connors." she shook it.
"Here you go!" Edward handed Kristen a pile of files with a wide smile.
"Thank you, Mr. Nygma." she nodded. "It was nice to meet you Ms. Connors." she nodded at Alyssa then left.
Alyssa rounded on her friend. "You never forget anything. What's your deal?"
Edward blushed and looked down. "To be completely honest, I just keep the files so she'll have to come get them."
Alyssa blinked and forced a smile on her face. "You like her!"
"Is it that obvious?"
"Well, to be fair, you can't fool your best friend." she shrugged, trying to ignore the pain in her chest at the fact that Edward like someone who wasn't her.
"I never could."
Naturally, when he had studied the drug, Alyssa was the first person Edward told. He had always come to her with new information when they were kids; absolutely bubbling at the prospect of something he didn't already know.
By then however, the drug - Viper - had spread widely across the streets. Alyssa had to dodge three power-crazed freaks on her way to Captain Essen's office.
"Its, really quite remarkable." Edward told Essen and the detectives. "Viper - somehow - activates unused DNA. The body starts to burn calcium from the skeletal system as fuel, hence the victims cravings for milk and cheese. They're desperately trying to replace the missing calcium, but they can't consume enough. Essentially, their bones crumble, then they suffocate, and die."
"You seen anything like this before?" Jim asked.
"No. Nobody has. Totally new, I can not tell you, how thrilled I am to be -"
"No new reports for a few hours." Essen cut him off, making both Edward and Alyssa frown. "Maybe their done. Maybe they ran out of the stuff."
"I doubt it." Jim said.
"Who would put this out on the street? Why? They're not even selling it, they're giving it away!"
"That's how you create demand." Harvey informed.
"For a drug that kills you, that fast?"
"Well, first it makes you king of the world." Alyssa shrugged. "They'll be takers."
"We won't have to peel any of your brats off the street, will we?" Harvey said rudely.
"No." Alyssa glared at him. "My kids know to avoid drugs, and they only time they're around alcohol is when they're around you."
"Cute." Harvey rolled his eyes.
"Remind me why I keep letting you in here?" Essen frowned.
"Because I'm the only power in Gotham you can stand?" Alyssa offered.
"Yeah, that's true..." she muttered, nodding.
"This stuff seems hard to make, no?" Alyssa looked to Edward, wanting to loop him back into the conversation.
"Oh, it takes a high level of technical sophistication. A state of the art lab made this stuff." he informed.
"Okay, so who has the biggest and best lab in the city?" Jim asked.
"The best? Is Welzyn."
"But this is not them." Essen shook her head. "They're a sub city area of Wayne Enterprises, a multi-billion dollar corporation. Why would they be doing this?"
"I don't know, but we might as well start at the top."
That was when one of the cops was thrown through the window, making all the people in the room duck.
"Are you okay?" Edward asked Alyssa.
"Yeah." she nodded. "You?"
"Yeah."
They both ran forward to see what had happened; on of the drugged up women was resisting the officers trying to hold her down. She was screaming for them to let go of her when her skin went pale and started sagging. She choked and you could literally hear her bones crumbling inside her before she collapsed.
"Fascinating." Edward stared at the display. "Fascinating."
Alyssa had by no means been friends with Thomas and Martha Wayne, but she liked to think that they had been people she trusted. Which is why the fact that Viper had been something that turned out to be planned by Welzyn did not sit well with her.
There was a knock at the door and Selina went to open it. "Alyssa." she called, eyes widening when she saw the beaten and bruised Oswald Cobblepot.
Alyssa whirled around and huffed. "Ozzy why is it that whenever you come to visit, you're injured?"
"You were always the one who patched me up from bullies when we were kids. Old habitats die hard, I suppose."
She sighed. "Kitten, get the first aid kit please."
Selina nodded and ran from the room.
Alyssa led her friend to the couch. "Alright, what's the story this time?"
"Don Maroni. I told him I used to work for Fish, and he didn't believe me at first."
"But he does now?" she asked, looking over his injuries.
"He brought Jim in to confirm the story."
"Yikes."
"He also mentioned that I should use 'Penguin' as my mob name." Oswald said, knowing Alyssa was the only one who understood what significance that name held for him. "What do you think?"
"Hmm. Turning an insult into a name of power; biggest screw you to bullies I ever heard of."