Chapter 20

Getting information out of Ruby was impossible at first. She spoke almost too quickly to be understood. She trembled. She wouldn't look him in the eye. That was why Oswald sent her to wash up while he looked over the files himself. Ruby agreed. She gave him the files...except for her own.

She couldn't let Oswald know the truth. Not yet. The way he was looking at her now, with such gentle concern...he might never look at her that way again if he had all the facts. And Ruby would lose her only friend.

She sat under the shower now, letting the cold water pelt her like so many fists. But no matter how hard the water hit, how pink her skin became, it wasn't enough. The real stains were hiding where soap and water couldn't go.

Nevertheless, Ruby scrubbed herself clean. The foam went from gray to white over the course of twenty minutes. At last, when the tiled room was as steamy as a springtime jungle, Ruby felt clean. At least, enough to hide her guilt for hiding the file. She combed her wet hair back with her fingers. Slipped into a black hoodie and sweatpants. Then, after a moment's contemplation, slipped on a necklace heavy with her namesake. When she trudged downstairs, an exotic, delectable aroma drifted up to greet her. Blinking, Ruby fumbled with the jewels hanging around her neck. Slowly, she made her way down. She heard Oswald exchange a few curt words with the delivery boy, pay him (no tip included), and the door slam shut. Oswald limped his way towards the kitchen, wincing audibly.

Ruby ran down. "Wait!"

Oswald froze, carrying two plastic bags advertising The Red Dragon in his skinny arms. Ruby smiled as she claimed both packages. "How'd you know I love The Red Dragon?"

Oswald blinked, then smiled with uncertainty. "You do?"

Ruby quirked a brow. "Why the surprise?"

"Well..." Oswald suddenly looked awkward, complete with rubbing the back of his neck. It was adorable. "It's actually one of my favorite restaurants."

Ruby stared at him. Her guilt was soon replaced by excitement. "Really?"

"Yes." It was Oswald's turn to smile with a touch of melancholy. "Ed introduced me to it one night via take-out. Remember, when he'd taken me in and nursed me back to health?"

"I remember." Ruby rested the bags on the kitchen's small table. Began opening each paper box. "You two were...close, huh?"

"Yes." Oswald sighed. "He was the first friend I'd ever had. I was there, dying in the woods...then, he came to save me. Like a guardian angel."

Ruby felt a stab in her chest, but she forced a smile. Tried to ignore the sting. "Sounds like you totally crushed on Ed."

Oswald's pasty-white face quickly reddened. His stomach formed a knot. But even so, it felt good to discuss this with a friend. "Perhaps." He mused. "You would have, too. Smart, homicidal, and charming. Just like me." He winked. Ruby giggled behind her hand as she tipped the containers over plates. Their steaming contents poured onto the fine china. Oswald, in the meantime, put the kettle on. "And you?"

Ruby glanced at him while still placing the utensils atop the table. "Me?"

"Have you ever been in a serious relationship?" Oswald emphasized. Looked at her with interest.

Ruby bit her lip. "Uh...not really." She pushed some damp hair back. "Um, my parents...well, let's just say I spent the first eighteen years locked up in my house. Well, my room, to be more specific. Then, when I was nineteen, I started working here." She smiled faintly. "I had a couple of relationships, but it was always with other servants. So if they were fired..." She shrugged.

Oswald watched her with large, shining eyes. Said nothing. Ruby noticed and quickly cleared her throat. "Er, anyway...what was Edward like? What did he do?"

Oswald knew that she was trying to slink away from the spotlight. But he chose not to push her further. She would have done the same for him. One day, though, he'd get the full story. Be it from her lips or someplace else. For now, he would humor her; and not only because he liked thinking of his old friend. "He worked in the forensics lab at the GCPD. He had a somewhat irritating penchant for riddles. Day or night, he would blurt one out. I rather liked spending time with him. He was only one who seemed as strange as I."

Ruby didn't answer. She kept her head down. Claimed the kettle and poured the hot water into two mugs. Expertly, she dropped two green tea bags in the cups.

"Speaking of strange..." Oswald sat down in the chair opposing Ruby's. She had no choice but to look at him. His gaze was serious, yet gentle. "What were you doing in Arkham Asylum?"

Ruby's hands began to shake. Oswald noticed this and softened his tone. "Please."

Her hands stilled. She sighed. Deciding to tell...most of what happened. "I was in one of the rooms polishing my jewels and watching TV. Then, something about Strange popped up."

Oswald's eyes sharpened. Twin swords against whetstones. "What?"

"Apparently, 'monsters' have been sighted around the city lately, and people suspect he's involved. I...went to find out."

"How did you get there so quickly?" Oswald asked more out of concern than suspicion. "Did you call a taxi?"

"Something like that." Ruby replied. "And...I saw things, Oswald." It felt good to evade holding back. To share what she'd seen. Oswald was the only person that she would have told. Of that she was certain. "Those poor people...what they must have gone through, ah..." She covered her eyes with her hands. Trying not to cry. She spoke through her fingers. "There were people with scales instead of skin...people with wings and tails...some with pale eyes or no eyes at all." She paused. "And...I saw Fish Mooney." Oswald's jaw dropped all the way to his tie. He stared at her as though she'd just chopped her arm off. His face lost what little color it had. Not progressively, but all at once. For one moment, Ruby thought he was seriously going to faint. She reached out and grabbed his hand, even as stray tears ran down her cheeks. "Are you okay?"

"A..." Oswald swallowed so loudly that Ruby could hear it. "Are you certain?"

Ruby nodded. "I recognized her from the papers. But one of her eyes was blue now, and she had a weird outfit on." She shrugged. "Whomever put her in that get-up played World of Warcraft."

"Who cares what she was wearing?!" Oswald snapped. "But it could not have been her! I pushed her over the edge! I watched her fall into that filthy river, and never re-emerge!" His voice was rising now. "She cannot be alive! Or I very soon won't be!"

"Sssh." Without thinking Ruby reached out. Her palms rested on Oswald's cheeks. His rant ended they did. In fact, everything about his body language ended. He froze. Stared. Barely breathed. Ruby felt her cheeks turn scarlet, but she put her own discomfort aside in favor of her friend's. "Please, calm down. I'm already nervous. If you snap too, neither of us will find a solution." Oswald gave a quick jerk of a nod. "If you want," Ruby continued, "we can talk about it some other time." She didn't deny to herself that this was said just as much for her sake as his.

Oswald gulped, offered a small smile, and patted her hands. "Th...thank you, but I'm alright." Reluctantly, he pulled away from her hands. His expression grew serious again. "Alright. I don't think that you would lie to me about something like this, but..." Oswald shook his head. "It is simply impossible."

"Nothing's impossible." Ruby said quietly, looking down at her hands.

Oswald pretended that he hadn't heard her. "I shall worry about the supposedly resurrected Fish Mooney another time." He picked up his fork and knife, pinkies lifted, and began attacking the prawns. After each bite, he wiped his mouth clean. "But what exactly did you learn at Arkham? Besides the nefarious experiments going on below?" He watched her even as he ate, intend on hearing every word. Having such undivided attention on her...especially with such intense eyes...made Ruby look away. She swallowed down her fried bell peppers and cucumber. Dabbed at her mouth. "Y-yeah." She took a deep breath and repeated what Fish Mooney had told her. After that, she told him about the letters and the envelopes filled with money. Oswald never interrupted nor looked away. He sipped both the green tea and a glass of red wine. Two rosy spots appeared in his sallow cheeks. Ruby switched between eating and talking, clearing off her plate. Trying to remember the last time someone had prepared dinner for her.

At last, she leaned back. "Well?" She asked. "What do you think?"

"I think," Oswald smiled like the cat who'd just eaten the canary, "that this is very interesting indeed."

Ruby sighed, already knowing what was going through Oswald's head. Some people hold grudges. He fossilized them like flies in amber and pinned them to his shirt. "Getting back at Strange won't undo what he put you through."

"But it will feel great." Oswald's smile widened.

Ruby sighed, knowing when the battle was lost. Oswald was too focused on the 'prize' right now to be able to see what consequences it might bring. The chance at revenge was too new and shiny right now. Eventually, he'd come down from his vendetta high and see reason. Hopefully. Until then, Ruby knew that trying to talk him out of it would have been the equivalent of telling a brick wall not to...well, be a brick wall.

A noise emerged from the saloon. Oswald gasped. In a second he was on his feet, pointing a gun at the entrance. Ruby ducked...until the next noise emerged. It was the sound of an ape's roar. One look from her made him lower the weapon. "Chillax." She grinned. "It's just the TV."

Oswald swallowed. Bristly and blushing. "I knew that." He put the weapon away.

Ruby rolled her eyes. "Sure." Climbing out of her seat, she stuffed her hands in her pockets. "Let me just see what's on, then I'll be all over these dishes."

"Very well." Oswald nodded, still blushing. "I have a call to make, anyway." Ruby pistol-shot him with her finger before making her way out of the kitchen. Once she had her back turned, she sighed. The guilt came back. Oswald clearly wanted to storm the asylum...or at least shoot Strange's head off his shoulders. But he didn't seem overall concerned for the experiments. Hell, why should he? He hadn't seen them. He hadn't heard their cries.

He wasn't one of them.

Ruby pinched the bridge of her nose. Thinking. What if, somehow, Oswald learned the truth about her? What would he say? The mere idea of such a thing happening turned Ruby's knees to Jell-O. She couldn't think about it now. Eventually, she would have to. But...not now.

Indigo eyes landed on the television screen. She brightened. "Well, what do you know?" The 1970s' Planet of the Apes. Ruby remembered watching it. She'd been six or seven. Her parents had locked her in her room, as usual, but she'd picked the padlock with a dropped hairpin. She had snuck out of her room in search of books, jewels, more thread and needles...anything that could help kill her day-long boredom. Instead, she'd come across her parents watching this very film. She'd watched it from her hiding spot, mesmerized at the moving pictures. It had been the first time she'd ever seen a movie.

"Small world." Her hands ducked back into her pockets. Veering back into the kitchen, she called, "Hey, Oswald! Wanna 'go ape'?" When she got no answer, instead hearing murmurs, she shut her mouth and neared the table. Oswald was pacing back and forth, sipping at his wine. His cheeks were flushed. Ruby suspected that it wasn't just from the alcohol. "Tabitha," he made the word sound like an insult, "enough with your prattle! Pass me Barbara!" A brief pause. Then: "If there is a Hell, you will someday be the whore of it. Now pass me Barbara or I will withdraw all support for your little club. Want to see if I'm telling the truth?" He leaned back, tapping his foot impatiently. Finally, some of the rage cleared from his face. "Barbara, hello. I apologize for the hour, but it is vital that you begin early with your part of the deal." A second's silence, during which Oswald smirked. "I thought you would say that. Yes. I need you to go to the GCPD tomorrow and learn whatever you can on the Arkham case." A moment of quietude. When Oswald spoke again, his voice was flat but clearly irritated. "Any way you want. Bribe someone. Seduce the captain. Bash the fileclerk on the head and search through the cabinets. Got any naughty photographs?" He was yelling at this point. "I don't care how you get the information! Just do it!"

He hung up then. Breathing heavily. He downed his glass in one gulp. But he didn't look any less stressed. Ruby took this as her cue to step in. Her hand found his arm. Oswald looked at her with big, startled eyes. She did her best to smile. "Um...movie night?"

The contraption reeked of metal and sweat. It closed around Jim's head. Cutting out air and sound. It was a grim parody of a mother's womb. Hot and encompassing, and anything but loving.

There came a click. The contraption was split down the middle. It was torn away, letting cool air slip inside. Jim breathed it in gratefully. But he didn't allow himself to get distracted. He was still on enemy grounds, after all. The room he was in was dim, painted white all over with lab equiptment taking up most space. Directly in front of him was Professor Hugo Strange. A tall, well-dressed man with round, magenta specs sitting on his nose. Bald and sporting a short beard that covered his jawline. Elegant, yet...well, strange. There was a manic gleam in those brown eyes, an almost unnatural serenity in his movements.

Sitting by Strange's side was a young man who was just as bald and ten times creepier in appearance. He was dressed in black, worn clothes that had probably been stolen from some homeless shelter. His skin was fair and his ears were large and shell-like. But the weirdest part was his eyes: his irises were eggshell-white, his pupils little black dots. That was all the proof that Jim needed that this man was not human. Not entirely.

Jim turned to Strange. "What was that?"

"You'll see." Strange drawled out all the syllables. An odd speech tic. "Allow me to introduce Basil. Basil just woke up this morning, didn't you, son?" He had his hand on the man's shoulder. His tone was warm and, indeed, paternal.

Basil grinned. "Yep." He was eyeing Jim like he was a Christmas present he couldn't wait to tear open.

"He was so confused, poor soul." Strange told Jim, sounding almost genuinely compassionate. "He had forgotten who he was, until I reminded him of his great talent. You see, Basil is a gifted performer. A chameleon of sorts. Would you like to see?" Basil raised his eyebrows slightly. Silently asking the same question.

Jim remained quiet for a second. Absorbing all of this madness. Before rejecting it. "You belong in your own asylum, Strange."

Strange's expression didn't change. But his voice deepened. Grew angry. Hostile, almost. "And you, James Gordon, belong in the past. The world has moved on. While you and others like you lived your sad, normal lives, I was pushing the boundaries of evolution." He was standing right in front of Jim now. Looking down at him in all senses of the phrase. "The future belongs to my children and that future...is...here."

Jim peered past Strange to look at the man with the freaky-as-hell eyes. They were closing now. Two orderlies placed a familiar box on his shoulders, sealing his head inside. A button was pushed. Churning noises began to rise from inside, like laundry being bashed about in a washing machine. Jim watched as his stomach twisted. Strange looked proud as he did the same. At last, the whirling died down and the box was removed. Steam rose around Basil's head. Only it wasn't Basil staring through the vapor, but Jim. Or at least, a bald Jim with rippling skin.

"Astonishing." Strange commented.

An orderly came up behind the Jim lookalike and placed a wig on that shiny scalp. "Oh, yes. The finishing touch." Strange walked towards his creation and adjusted it. He stepped back, laughing under his breath. There. Now they were two peas in a pod. Jim's heart sank in deep mud.

"Introduce yourself, son." Strange instructed kindly.

"Nice to meet you." The lookalike's voice sounded like he was talking through a mouthful of peanut butter. He cleared his throat.

"What the hell?" Jim whispered, still stunned.

"Nice to meet you." The lookalike tried again. His voice's pitch went from high to low to high again.

"You son of a bitch!" Jim shouted.

"Son of a bitch!" The doppleganger echoed. His voice became painfully familiar. "Nice to meet you. I'm Jim Gordon."