Chapter 2: Snatched
"Leaving work early Miss Taylor?"
Andi jumped and spun to find Jim Gordon standing behind her, his mustache twitching up with his lips and his brown eyes twinkling behind thick glasses. "Commissioner! What are you doing back here at MCU? Aren't you supposed to be rubbing elbows with all those politicians and such at County now?"
"Don't remind me," Gordon muttered, "I'm here for the weekly check up on this unit. If I'm lucky I'll be able to stretch it into an all day thing. Where are you off to?"
"Meeting some friends during my lunch hour," Andi said a bit guiltily. Usually she just took fifteen minutes in the break room to eat—forensics was always backed up, especially in trace analysis. Long breaks tended to be discouraged. "I can stay late to make up for it if I need to."
Gordon snorted and shook his head. "Taylor, just because I'm the Commissioner doesn't mean I don't still keep up with what goes on around here. It's a Friday afternoon and you've worked through every weekend the past two months without complaint. Go on, and take the rest of the day off too. You deserve a break."
Andi's smile stretched wider as she finished swiping out and hurried to the police department's parking garage, carefully steering her battered Altima through the ranks of cruisers and civilian cars. She'd forgotten how much she'd missed Gordon; he'd been a fantastic boss from the time he'd hired her, right when MCU had been formed. Even then, something about mild, tired looking Commissioner Gordon had impressed her. He knew exactly what he was doing and, even better, he seemed to be incorruptible. Not always something guaranteed in Gotham's police department, whether you were the commissioner himself or a lowly new forensic scientist fresh out of training like she had been.
The summer sunlight hit her face through the windshield and Andi sighed in utter contentment as she turned onto the highway. Free. Free for the rest of the day. She couldn't remember having so much spare time since Easter.
Andi had to roll her eyes when she'd threaded her way to the center of downtown and finally located the small café Pam had picked out for lunch. Trust Pam to choose an all-organic, vegetarian restaurant. Her friend was sitting at one of the outdoor tables, basking in the sunshine, long legs stretched out on the chair in front of her. Several younger guys that looked to be college students, probably from Gotham State, kept giving her hopeful glances that Pam didn't deign to notice. Andi grinned. Only Pam could combine a classically beautiful face and body, brilliant red hair, and her crazy green make-up and clothes and still come out looking exotic rather than ridiculous. She started waving to Andi the moment she came into view and got her boots off the chair so Andi could sit down.
"Leena's not here yet," she said, "Probably—"
An earth shaking rumble cut her off as a mud-splattered pickup that had to be at least thirty years old carefully made the turn into the lot, driven by a blond woman so small it looked as if she was hardly able to see over the dashboard. Andi just shook her head as Leena somehow maneuvered it into a parking space, then climbed out carefully and made her way over, her delicate appearance at complete odds with the massive vehicle she'd driven.
"Hi guys! Sorry I'm late, things were crazy at Arkham."
Pam looked anything but amused at the pun.
"Harleen Quinzel. Just what is that earth-killing, gas guzzling monstrosity you are driving?"
Leena's smile faded. "I borrowed it from my neighbor," she said defensively, pink creeping up her cheeks. "It's not mine."
"I thought you were saving for a new car."
"I am but… well…"
"What happened to the money this time?" Andi asked, biting the corners of her lips to hold back a grin. Leena's blush deepened.
"It… might have gotten donated to Operation Smile," she admitted.
Pam's expression softened to exasperation. "Again Leena? How can you be a psychiatrist to the criminally insane with a heart like yours? I'd have thought they'd break you long ago."
"But I love my work!" Leena protested. "I feel like I can actually make a difference with my patients. I've made so much progress with some of them; even the higher ups have noticed. And you're never going to guess the new patient I've been assigned to!"
It couldn't be clearer that she was bursting to tell them, but their conversation was cut off as the waiter came to their table. Pam ordered enthusiastically, Andi with a wince. She hated eating vegetarian. Leena just named the first thing she saw on the menu and opened her mouth eagerly the second the waiter had moved away. Pam stalled her with a raised a hand.
"Just a second Leena." Twisting in her seat, she finally glared at the college kids with all of the blazing fire Andi knew her gaze could hold—mostly, Andi suspected, because they were now leering at her and Leena as much as they were at Pam. "You!" she snapped, "Yes, you idiots. Learn how to behave like men before you go chasing real women! And keep your eyes where they belong."
Leena's face turned beet red, and even Andi was shifting uncomfortably, but Pam appeared completely unphased as she turned away from them. "Anyways," she continued, setting her napkin calmly in her lap. "A new assignment you said, Leena? What is it this time? Not another serial killer right?"
"No. Although I don't know why you're still so worked up over me getting Zsasz. After the fear toxin Dr. Crane used on him, he really is harmless." Leena took a deep breath, ignoring the snort Pam gave. "They gave me the Joker!"
Whatever sort of reaction Leena had been expecting, Andi didn't think she and Pam quite lived up to it. The two of them stayed dead silent, Pam glaring at nothing, Andi just trying to pull her thoughts together. It had been bad enough when the Joker was assigned to Arkham. For Leena to have to take him as a case and, worst of all, to be excited about it… Andi tried not to think of the legends still bandied about by cops in the break room, telling how he had broken the back of the mob in a matter of weeks without even making them his focus. They still hadn't recovered after over a year. If hardened criminals had been torn apart by this maniac, Andi didn't even want to consider what he might do to an innocent person like her friend.
"What's the matter?" Leena finally asked. Her voice was somewhere between hurt and resigned. She must have known this argument was coming.
"Well…" Andi glanced at Pam, trying to cue her bolder friend into voicing their thoughts, but Pam was staring stonily at her place setting. "It's just…" Oh forget tactfulness. Andi took a deep breath and went for blunt. "Leena, this is a man who tried to blow up half of Gotham. And now you're being shut in a room with him to try and establish a relationship. Do you really think this is a good idea?"
Leena's mouth twisted strangely. "Andi, they're people in pain, in darkness. I can't just leave them to it. The Joker more than anyone because he's so far gone."
"You can't save all of them you know, Leena." Pam's voice had an edge to it that was nearly angry, and she was glaring at her fork so hard Andi thought it might start to smoke soon. "And I really, really doubt there's a chance you'll make so much as a dent in this one's armor."
"I—I know." Leena paused. "But I have to try, don't you see? Otherwise I'd be someone who let people hurt themselves and others when I could have stopped it. I can't not do it. Not if I want to stay the person I am."
"Aren't you frightened of him at all?" Andi asked. Leena gave a shaky laugh.
"I'm terrified Andi. I can't stop thinking of all the things that could go wrong, how I could hurt him worse or not reach him or…"
That wasn't at all what Andi had meant, and the fact that that was all Leena could come up with in her worries about the Joker told her things had gone quite far enough.
"Leena," she said firmly. "You're one of the best people I know. The fact that you wouldn't just gun the Joker down on sight sets you apart from ninety-nine point nine percent of Gotham. But it's not the Joker I'm worried about in this. It's you. Leena, you're our friend, and since you never consider what's going to happen to you so long as everyone else is happy, Pam and I—"
Leena's phone rang and Andi shook her head and shut up. Her friend snapped it open with an apologetic glance at them. "Dr. Quinzel." Her serene voice came as close to businesslike as Andi had ever heard it. "What? He did?" A pause. "No. No, I can definitely come in. Where did they take him? Alright, I'll be there in fifteen minutes."
She hung up and looked at them. "One of my patients somehow stabbed himself in the arm. I've got to go to Gotham General, see if I can talk the doctors into giving him a private ward once he's out of surgery."
"Sure." Andi muttered. Leena stood up and started to pull her checkbook out, but Pam stopped her.
"Don't worry. We'll cover you—it's not like you've eaten yet. You just go deal with your patient. And save the extra money for that car!"
Leena nodded gratefully and a moment later there was an almighty roar as she started her truck again. Andi and Pam sat in silence until it had passed out of hearing, then Pam sighed and put her head in her hands.
"Does she realize that she's going to get her neck broken one of these days?"
"I think the better question is if she cares," Andi said, "Leena's just too… ah, she's just too much. Better than I could ever be."
"You and me both." Pam muttered. "Well, if there's nothing else to do for her…" She shook her head and lapsed into a worried silence until their salads were brought out. Andi gave the wilted leaves a wary glance.
"Do you know if there's anything to the rumor that someone shot the Batman last night?" Pam asked after a minute, missing Andi's hesitation over what seemed to be a tomato, as she dug eagerly into her own food.
"We don't even know if the round got past his armor," Andi grimaced, "Sergeant Bailey was answering a call about an apartment robbery in the Narrows and found him taking down the thugs behind the attack. Batman killed his partner, Wuertz, last year, so he… well, Bailey fired on him, even though he was running. They couldn't find the Bat, but Bailey swears he was hit."
"Oh. Oh well," Pam sighed. She loathed the Batman nearly as much as Andi and the rest of the police force did after he'd killed those cops last year. "Did you get any forensics on him at least?"
Andi barked a laugh. "Do we ever? Even if Bailey hit him, and he bled onto the street, and we knew the exact spot where he'd landed, he was in the Narrows. The back alleys haven't been cleaned in ages; they're practically crawling with DNA from the druggies and random homeless living in the area. Not to mention the years of filth down there since trash pick-up is unreliable. The odds of finding anything in that cesspool resembling the clean samples courts always seem to demand now are slim to none and apparently the investigators from county thought their hands didn't need to get soiled on something that hopeless. All we really got are more fibers from that cape and eyewitness descriptions of his mouth shape. Useless."
"Ma'am?"
Andi turned to find the waiter standing close behind her chair. "Your friend? She dropped this on her way out." He held out Leena's battered cell phone.
"Oh. Thank you." Perhaps there was a good side to carrying a cell that was several years old. It made the odds of someone returning it go up at least. Andi turned the phone over in her hands thoughtfully.
"Do you want me to take it to her?" Pam offered. "My greenhouses aren't too far from her apartment and I can drop by after work."
"Don't worry about it… knowing Leena, she might not come home until late and I can drop by Gotham General without too much trouble," Andi said slowly, "Gordon gave me the day off."
"You're thinking of something." Pam accused. Andi faked a smile.
"Not really. Just worrying about Leena. I think I'll go take this to her now—I'm not too hungry after that news she told us."
"Sure thing." Pam's mood dimmed perceptibly at the mention of Leena's problems. The Joker. What was that girl thinking? "I'll get the bill this time."
"Thanks," Andi grinned, "And I'll choose the next restaurant."
She was getting into her car when Leena's phone rang. Andi hesitated for a second, then flipped it open.
"Andrea Taylor, answering for Dr. Quinzel."
"Oh, Andi!" Leena sighed in relief on the other line; she must be calling from the hospital. "Good, you found the phone. Can I stop by your apartment to pick it up tonight?"
"Don't bother," Andi said, keeping her voice light. "I'll take it by the hospital in a few minutes. Just let me stop by MCU to pick something up and I'll be on my way."
"You don't have to—"
"No, no I want to," Andi told her firmly, "I haven't been to Gotham General since I quit med school and it'll be nice to see the other people there. I'll meet you by the employee entrance alright?"
"Well, if you're sure…"
"I'll be there in half an hour." Andi clicked the phone shut before Leena could protest any more.
"Excuse me? Miss? Are you a doctor?"
Andi had to squint into the late afternoon sun as turned towards the British voice, and it was a moment before she could really see past the glare to the panicked face of the elderly gentleman rushing towards her. She hadn't meant to stay so long at the hospital for it to be getting on to evening. "Close enough," she said crisply, "What's wrong?"
"It's my wife." He pointed towards a very nice Cadillac, its trunk facing the employee entrance they were standing at. "We were driving and suddenly she couldn't breathe."
"The emergency room is—"
"Please, she passed out three minutes ago and her lips are blue."
Andi's eyes went wide and she raced towards the car, the old man following at a fast shuffle. She had already yanked the door open and was bending down for mouth to mouth before she realized that there was absolutely no one inside.
"What—"
Suddenly a damp cloth was pressed hard over her mouth and nose. Andi flailed as a strange chemical scent filled her nostrils, but the man was surprisingly strong for his age and whatever he was using, it was very effective. She felt herself slump over, and he helped by pushing her into the car, held the cloth on her face, and then everything went dark.
Author's Note: Yes, for anyone who keeps up with the comic book characters, these are the Harleen Quinzel and Pam Isley. But, as you can probably guess from what's happened in the story so far, I'm not going to stick to canon too closely for their back stories. Although many of the themes and end results of the characters are going to be similar, I've made the characters very much my own, and that means that a lot of their actions are going to be somewhat or completely different from the 'standard versions.'
I also want to give a huge thank you to NeverTooLate03, Lasgalendil, Darth KenObi-Wan, Sephsekla, Ericstpierre, Spanish Angel, Amee-p, and ameisrain for putting Unmasked on story alert and to Sephsekla, Spanish Angel, and Amee-p for favoriting it. Most of all, thank you, thank you, thank you to those who took the time to review. I'm trying very hard to learn good ways of expressing myself, but as of right now I can't figure out a way to write how absolutely incredible seeing those made me feel. I really hope that this chapter lived up to everyone's expectations!