2. Finding a Cure
Jim looks sadly at the two kids that lie sleeping in their hospital beds. For now it seemed the sedatives worked, but the doctors couldn't tell for how long. Nor did they know how Bruce could be infected in the first place or where he was infected with, but one thing they did know. It was very contagious. They made this conclusion when Alfred told them Bruce must have infected Selina after kissing her.
Jim and Alfred both know that the young billionaire has a very long list of potential suspects, but which one of them was clever enough to infect a young boy and girl with an un-identifying substance?
"You have absolutely no idea when Bruce could have been infected?" Jim asked, ignoring the vibrating phone in the inside pocket of his jacket. It was already vibrating for the past ten minutes, straight on, but Bullock would understand once he explained the situation to him.
Alfred sits down into a nearby chair and slumps his head down into his hands then replies; "Master Bruce always goes for a morning run, but he would have told me if someone had forced him to inhale something, right? I mean, that's what the doctors say, right? That he must have inhaled it somewhere, because they couldn't find any needle marks."
Jim nods. The phone in his pocket starts to vibrate again. Maybe it's best to pick up after all.
"Excuse me," Jim said when he showed the phone to Alfred and stepped out of the room to get some privacy. The doctors were still in the room connecting the two kids onto IVs to keep them from dehydrating.
Jim closes the door behind him then the caller ID tells him it's not Bullock but an anonymous caller instead. What kind of anonymous person would call him for more than ten minutes straight on?
The detective frowns then picks up and says; "Jim Gordon speaking."
"About time you decided to pick up your phone, Mr. Gordon!"
Jim's heart froze upon hearing that voice. He was the least expected person to call him on his private phone. Besides, how did he even know the number, and why did he call him?"
"Jervis!" Jim snarled venomous into the phone. "What do you want?"
Jervis laughs momentarily then says tauntingly; "Two kids lying sick in a hospital bed, oh what is the threat? Maybe it's time for you to produce some sweat. What do you say, Jim, are you up for a challenge? Meet me in twenty minutes at the exact coordinates I send you by mail, and we will see if you get these kids' lives back in balance."
The disconnection tone rings in Jim's ear when he stares into space, frozen. Jervis was the last person he'd expected to be the suspect. Who would have thought Jervis would infect Bruce with something to play sick mind games with Jim?
Jim turns back to the door and walks inside. His face is completely pale. Alfred notices it.
"Detective, what's going on?"
Jim opens his mouth do reply, but instead he closes it again and starts fidgeting with the phone. How could he tell Alfred he was part of the reason Bruce and Selina are in hospital? Even though it wasn't entirely his fault, Jim still felt guilty. He felt guilty for not being more careful while Jervis still wasn't into custody. He shouldn't have known Jervis would watch him and get his revenge for his sister's dead.
"Gordon?" a tiny voice gasped which draw Jim from his thoughts, and he looks up noticing Selina looking at him through her eye lashes. It seems like the fever or whatever stops her from opening them properly. "You are a very useless cop, you know that? You should be out on the streets and find the bastard who targeted my billionaire friend instead of being here. I would have done it myself if I wasn't feeling like crap. Also, staring at a depressed butler is already a torture enough, so please get out and find the sick bastard!"
Jim can't help it and chuckles slightly.
"You're right, Selina," Jim said then showed her the phone and comments; "It won't be hard finding him because he so happened to be very nice and asked me to meet him at some random spot. Of course I will beat the crap out of him until he gives me the cure to whatever this is."
Even though her eyes were half closed, Jim was still able to see how she rolled them annoyed then she burst into an uproarious coughing. When she was finally able to speak again she comments; "Don't flatter yourself, Gordon, you can't beat that hard. How about you just cuff him to a drainpipe or something then come back at this hospital and tell me where to find him. Then I will let him feel how much pain I can inflict on his body before his mind tells him to give up and tell us what we want to know. Trust me; he will break in just a few seconds."
"I'm sure he will," Jim smiled then puts the phone back into his inside pocket then turns to Alfred; "Please stay in touch, and don't hesitate to tell me how they are. I really need to know when things get worse, even though I wish it won't get worse."
Alfred nods; "I will. You just find that 'rotter' and do whatever it takes to make him hand over the antidote."
Jim nods then leaves the room, hearing Selina whisper behind him something that sounded like; "Gordon, make sure you don't get eaten by that tiger that's outside the door, lurking at us."
Jim arrived at his apartment and went through his mail immediately then found the envelope with Jervis's handwriting. He opened it and saw it was the address of an abandoned building in The Narrows.
The detective looked at his watch then saw he had only ten minutes left to arrive at the address in time. If he stepped on it he could make it.
Ten minutes later, at the second, Jim arrived at the address then jumped out of his car and grabbed for his gun as he entered the building. Right in the middle of the hallway stood a small table with a ringing phone.
Jim picked it up, instantly.
"Mr. Gordon, I'm surprised you made it," Jervis said tauntingly into Jim's ear. "I see you are surprised as well. You didn't really think I would come in person now, did you?"
Jim grinds his teeth then scowls; "Just tell me where the antidote is, Jervis."
"Really, no chit-chat first? I was kinda expecting a big tirade where you asked me why I used that little boy to get to you. Or is the reason you don't ask me that question because you already know the answer?"
Jim feels more anger build up inside him, but he tries to fight it and snarls instead; "The antidote, Tetch. I will do questioning when I arrested you, because that is what I will do. I will find you and arrest you and make sure you will stay inside the asylum for the rest of your life!"
"You're scaring me, Mr. Gordon. Maybe I should run instead of giving you the antidote," Jervis said with a honed laugh.
Jim clutches the phone into his hand in anger then barks; "Stop playing games, Jervis! Tell me where the antidote is!"
"You have so much anger inside of you, Mr. Gordon. Maybe you should see a therapist. Maybe this person can also help you to get a little more patience."
Suddenly Jim's phone starts to fibrate and when he looks at the caller Id he sees it's Alfred. He knows he starting to run out of time.
"Jervis, just tell me where the antidote is."
Jervis chuckles then replies; "Tick-tack, you get 1 minute and thirty seconds to find the bottle that is hidden inside the building you are right now, but be careful, there happens to be two of them. One with a green label and one with the red label. By the time the phone rings you have them both and I tell you with which one you have to inject them. Don't try to fool me, Mr. Gordon, I can see you."
Tetch hangs up which is Jim's cue to start looking. The detective turns everything upside down as fast as he can while looking thoroughly. Suddenly he finds a bottle with the red label underneath the living room desk. Just when he tried to look for the second one the phone starts to ring.
"NO!" Jim shouted frantically then rushed to the phone and screamed to the villain on the other end of the line; "Give me more time!"
Jervis cackles momentarily then says; "I gave you exact 1 minute and thirty seconds, Mr. Gordon. It looks like you still need to find one bottle, and I just let you, but you'll have to figure out which one is which yourself. Good luck, Mr. Gordon."
"NO!" Jim roared into the phone but Jervis already hung up. The detective grabs for his cell-phone and calls Alfred who picks up instantly.
"Mr. Gordon, where are you?"
"The bastard gave me a challenge! I had to find two bottles with the possible cure in it under 1 minute and thirty seconds. I only found one and the time passed. I don't know how long it will take before I find the second one, but I will try. But I really need to know how the kids are holding up."
Alfred looks at the two sick kids who's condition has become really worse, but letting Jim Gordon return with only one bottle would be a big risk. If it was the wrong one, both kids would die.
"Look, find that other bottle, okay?" Alfred said. "We need them both. Maybe there is still some time left for the doctors to analyse both of them and figure out which one is the cure."
"I'm on it," Jim said then asked Alfred if he could call Bullock and ask him to send back-up to the address he's at. Maybe if more people came to look the quicker they would find it.
Jim searched and searched then Bullock and a few other cops joined him and finally an hour later they found the second bottle. Jim thanked the cops then rushed with wailing sirens back to the hospital.
The detective rushed into the room and found the doctors straining Bruce to his bed, because he didn't stop screaming and swaying his arms around in pure panic.
"Alfred, get them off me! The bats, get them off me!"
The doctors pinned him with four men down to the bed then injected him with sedatives. Selina's bed was empty and Jim feared the worst.
"Where's Selina?" Jim asked as he stepped toward the worried looking butler.
Alfred looks at him with teary eyes; "Miss Kyle is hiding under her bed. The doctors tried to get her from under it, but she clawed them and hissed at them like an angry cat. I tried to persuade her to get back in bed, but she refuses and says there are tigers wanting to eat her."
"I found both bottles and both substance look the same. Do you think there is still time left for a doctor to find which one we need to inject them with?"
Alfred opened his mouth to reply, but suddenly Bruce stops screaming and his eyes fall back.
"What happened?" Alfred asked the doctors who then explained both men that Bruce fell into a coma. It could be his body's last resort to fight the poison, but the doctors feared his body would fail.
Jim showed the bottles; "Either one of these is the cure. How long will it take for you guys to analyse which one is the right one?"
"That will take hours," the doctor replied. "But my logic says that red means bad and green means good."
Jim shakes his head; "We can't rely on the logic of colors. We are talking about a man that loves to play mind games and-
Suddenly the bottle with the red label is snatched from Jim's hand and they all look at the person who did that. They saw it was Selina. Her eyes told them she was having a very high fever.
"Miss Kyle, what do you think you are doing?"
Selina manages to roll her eyes; "What does it look like Jeeves? I'm trying to save Bruce Wayne's butt, like always. Just inject me with this stuff and see what happens."
"Selina, do you even know this might not be the cure at all?" Jim said with fear in his eyes.
Selina starts to cough loudly then snarls; "You said it yourself, the idiot loves to play mind tricks. Now I don't know for sure but I'll rather have this tested out on me than waste more time on trying to analyse this villain's mind."
"Miss Kyle…"
"Just do it, okay?!" Selina yelled then pushed the bottle into the doctors hands who looked at the two men. "Come on, what other options do we have?!"
"Selina, you and Bruce might be able to fight this long enough for the doctors to analyse it."
Selina scowls angrily then points at Bruce; "Look at him! Just stop wasting time and inject me with that stuff!"
Realizing they had no other option, Jim and Alfred agreed with her. The doctor simply sighed with a head-shake then prepared the stuff he needed to inject Selina. A few seconds later she was lying back in bed and injected with the substance from the red labelled bottle.
"Do you feel any different?" Jim asked after ten minutes of waiting.
Selina shrugs; "The tigers are gone, so that's a good thing, right?"
"That's hard to say," the doctor replied then looking at Bruce who still looked like he was in a coma. He was still breathing. "Do you still feel anything of the symptoms you had earlier?"
Selina looks thoughtfully for a moment then comments; "Nope, the nausea is gone, which basically means I'm hungry now. You know what, I'll grab something to eat while you inject Bruce with the stuff that is still left in that bottle."
The street girl moves the blankets off then leaps out of bed and heads for the door.
"Miss, I don't think it's a good idea if you start walking around until we know for sure this stuff is actually the cure."
Selina rolls her eyes big time then replies; "No offence, doc, but I think I know my body better than you. Besides, the coughing stopped, the nausea is gone, the tigers stopped lurking at me, and…" Selina holds her palm against her head; "I guess the fever is gone too. Now if you'll excuse me, this tiny and agile body of mine needs to be fed."
The doctors frowns then meets Jim's and Alfred's eyes.
"I don't know why, but something tells me she's back being her old self, what do you think, Alfred?"
Alfred nods agreed.
The doctor sighs again then walks over to Bruce and injects him with the same serum as he injected Selina earlier. Fifteen minutes later the boy's eye lashes begin to flutter before they finally open.
"Alfred, what happened?"
Alfred didn't reply. All he could do was cry and hug the boy. Then Selina walked back into the room holding a brown paper bag which she tossed into Bruce's lap.
"Here kid, you'll need your strength back. My claws can't wait to attend the meeting with the villain who did this to us."
Bruce frowned big time then looked at Jim and Alfred who both slapped their heads. Though, neither of them dared to fight Selina's decision because they knew they would end up having their own eyes clawed out.
What did you think of this story? I'm planned to make a separate story where Selina and Bruce decide to help Jim and catch Jervis Tetch. I just don't know when. I first like to focus on some on-going stories before I start making new ones, but yeah, if inspiration for this new story hits and won't leave me alone, I might post it earlier.
Anyway, let me know your thoughts on this story.
Thanks to swiftbolt99 for dragging me through the writers-block and giving me some ideas to work with and finish this story.