Hey, so I'm just going to try to roughly mirror the events of each new episode every week and work it from there. This is during "Selena Kyle" but that it will span two chapters. Also, I honestly have no clue what they're going to play around with in Eddy's backstory. I only have what little we have been given in these past two episodes, and my understanding of the Riddler later, so let's see how that goes! Sorry for the wait. Enjoy, dear readers, and reviews are wonderful.
Fresh coffee rings began to form on the rickety old desk. The fern began to look a little less dead. Bree seemed to be less than a minute away from banging her head on her desk to put herself out of her misery, but decided against it, considering her dry cleaning was ready at 3.
She sighed and pushed another stack of sorted papers to the edge of her desk. If she had learned anything about GCPD in the past week working there, if would be that they were horrible at paperwork. That and they all drank way too much coffee. She had already made two coffee runs in the past five hours for the same few staff that were aware of her existence. She took another long sip of her own espresso, and decided to stretch her legs and take the finished stack of paperwork down to the most recent detective she had been assigned to, a man named Harvey Bullock. Apparently, the man hadn't filed his own reports in quite a while. Bree certainly was under the impression that she technically wasn't even qualified to do some on the work, but it was all "off the record".
Dodging a few bustling employees, she hurried down the stairs. She swung around the corner, heading to where she now knew his desk was, and not at all to her surprise, he was not there.
She sighed, plopping the folders onto his desk. He probably would never even glance at them.
The sheer number of open cases amazed her. Whenever she asked about them, she was told to just leave it. She had heard the police were corrupt, but she hadn't known just how many crimes were reported and uninvestigated for whatever reason.
She made her way back to her tiny work station, climbing back up the same staircase she had seen far too much of in the past week. She ran a hand through her messy hair and looked up when she saw a familiar face walking through the doorway of the forensics lab.
"How's it going, Ed?" she asked tiredly. He glanced up from the file he had been examining, his brows raised as if he wasn't used to the question. After a moment, he returned her smile, lowering the file.
"You know that homeless kid that was brought in this morning?"
She nodded, remembering very well Detective Bullock yelling this morning. Well, he always seemed to be yelling at something, but this one was the event of the day.
"Well, I took a blood sample from him, and I found something odd. A compound my systems are having a hard time identifying."
"That's strange…" she said, furrowing her brows, and waiving him toward her desk. He followed, grinning excitedly.
"Exactly! It looks like some sort of sedative…perhaps even a tranquilizer. It's certainly fast-acting and very powerful. I was just considering looking into local animal control methods," he folded the file beneath his arm and adjusted his glasses.
"What about a hospital?" Bree asked, not really sure why she was bothering trying to help.
"I considered that! However, its effects aren't long lasting enough to put someone out long enough for surgery," he waved his arm, leaning against her desk as she plopped down in the seat, deciding to completely blow off the remainder of the case files on her desk.
"Okay….well, what if the patients were a little rowdy, like in a—"
"Mental institution….that's it!" he said, snapping his fingers, "I'll check the databases of the main mental institutions in and around Gotham," he said, pushing off the desk and began walking back to the lab.
"What about Arkham?" she asked suddenly, causing him to stop in his tracks. He turned back and looked at her, his head tilted slightly. She bit her lip, his sudden focus a bit unnerving.
"It's been closed for over ten years….do you think it may have a lead?"
"I don't know, but it would definitely be worth a look," Bree shrugged.
"I'm on it!" Ed smiled, his usual excitement returning, and he hurried off to his desk. Bree couldn't help but to grin.
Everyone else is just a hard-ass around here.
She turned back to the stack of files on her desk. The rest she had to do today were only cold cases she had to archive. Lightly, she brushed her fingers over the top one. She could go ask for something more to do, but she really was just content with skimming through the content of the old cases. They were like old narratives without an end. She considered beginning the alphabetizing process, but paused as she grasped the edge of the folder.
She opened the cover and began to read.
An hour or two later, Bree walked up the familiar staircase to her workspace, her energy sparked anew by lunch and a strong cup of coffee.
To her surprise, she saw Edward hanging around her desk, looking around somewhat anxiously. Their eyes met and he hurried over to her.
"We have a bit of a problem," he began. Bree blinked a few times.
"Whoa, there, am I the designated advice giver now?" she teased, moving towards her desk, knowing he followed along. He really was like a little puppy.
"No….well you're sorta the only one willing to bounce ideas around with me," he said quietly, his grin fading somewhat and he nodded slightly as he looked down. Bree faltered a moment, frowning as she realized how lame her joke really was.
"Hey, it's fine. What do you have?" she shook her head and craned her head to met his dark eyes as he looked back up.
"Ah, but it's more of what don't we have," he smirked, handing her a few papers. She grabbed them, flicking through what mostly registered to her as gibberish.
"Sorry, Ed, I don't follow," she said, finishing looking at the papers and handing them back.
"I searched through the databases of all local hospitals and mental institutions within a hundred miles, isolating which drugs worked in the same method as our mystery drug. Then I took those, and compared the structure of the compounds to that of the mystery drug. Guess what I found."
"What?" she countered, not feeling like taking the time to guess, much to his disappointment.
"Nothing. There were no matches in the databases I searched, but what else is missing there?" he leaned forward with a sly grin.
"Arkham wasn't part of the list," she concluded, furrowing her brows and looking back at the stack of papers in his hand, none of which bore the Arkham insignia. "Why not?"
"Arkham was shut down over ten years ago now, and it was active long before that. They never shifted to digital filing, and supposedly, they're still in there," Ed finished.
"Why didn't they take them out?" she asked.
"No one cared to. A few of them were for record purposes, but the asylum was mostly filled with undesirables and other risks to society. No one felt the need to search their medical records beyond the stigmatic stamp of insanity," he shrugged.
"Hmmm…so what now?"
"Oh, we can do nothing. Without knowing what compound was in that kid's system they're not going to bother investigating further into it. I guarantee you that they will mark it off as another homeless teen drug addict."
"But you don't believe that, do you?" Bree pressed, folding her arms across her chest. He narrowed his eyes slightly as they flickered across her features. "And there is the whole disappearing street children thing. It all sounds a bit sketchy," she added.
"It doesn't matter what I think…" he spun around, leaning on her desk, and clicking his tongue, "But theoretically…if it did, I'd say that chemical compound shows little promise for recreational use," he said, tilting his head slightly as he glanced at her.
"So, if you can find out what this drug is, you think they can find the missing kids."
"I never said anything of the sort," he retorted.
"No, but it was written all over your face," she quipped. He looked at her in surprise for a moment, and then he looked away and allowed a large grin to spread over his lips. He chuckled quietly.
"Alright then, Ms. Taylor, what do you propose? We go break into the Asylum and steal the old medical records?" he laughed, looking out the small window. When he turned back to face her, a smirk had surfaced on her lips and she gave a subtle wink.
"You can't be serious."
"You know, I had you pegged as the mild mannered intern, not whatever this is," Ed said more to himself than to her as he turned the wheel of his simple, old, tan town car. He glanced over as Bree snorted a short laugh from the passenger seat, biting her nails slightly as she looked out the window at the grey overcast sky.
"Yeah, well, you don't really know me too well," she muttered into her hand. Ed raised his brows and adjusted his glasses.
"Well, neither do you. I could be anyone," Ed said quietly. Bree smiled.
"I suppose that makes two of us then. I really usually don't do stuff like this. I'm just running off an adventurous spark and hoping you're not a serial killer," Bree said, turning her head back to him with a mischievous grin.
"And I, the same," Edward chuckled, turning off the main road into a secluded back road to Arkham.
"Oh, well that would be me," Bree reached into her bag and pulled out a small protective case, "mild mannered intern by day, secret ninja assassin by night."
"How very reassuring," he quipped as he whipped the car behind a bush. From that location, it couldn't be seen from any angle. Ed had briefly mentioned something about memorizing Arkham's layout, but she hadn't realized he had been serious when he said he considered every step and escape route.
He's a little too good at this. Bree mused, her eyes roaming over his pointed features as he parked the car. Other than schematics though, he seemed almost as uncomfortable as she felt.
"Follow my lead, there should be a pathway that winds itself up to the main island," Edward began, adjusting his glasses before examining her with his dark eyes.
"Sure, aye captain," she said opening her small case and pulling out her holster and handgun. Ed's jaw dropped.
"Is that a Glock 42 subcompact pistol?"
"Yes," she nodded simply, hardly concealing the smirk on her face. Ed laughed nervously.
"Why…"
"You have your talents, and I have mine," Bree silenced him, his eyebrows only raising forward. "Don't worry; I have a carry permit and everything. I don't intend on being an intern my whole life," she added, her curls bouncing slightly as she climbed out of the car and secured her weapon on her hip.
"Lead the way, captain!"
Edward led the way as they crept along the side of the main road that led to Arkham. They stayed close to the overgrown bushes. No one had really watched the area in quite some time. Even the local vandals typically abstained from this area aside from the occasional graffiti tag. It was far too close to the narrows, and the asylum stood on its own, creepier than any haunted house could ever be; at least that was what Bree thought, but she tried to hide it as they approached the looming structure.
"So we're just going to….walk in?" Bree asked uneasily.
"The property owners only check up on it a few times a month. We should be in the clear," Ed said quietly, turning his head slightly towards her while keeping his eyes locked ahead.
As they walked closer, it became more apparent how decrepit the buildings had become.
"Here we are," he said as they approached the main gate with the words Arkham Asylum across it, vines twisting up the iron bars. "Good thing I brushed up on how to pick…..locks," Ed's excited voice faded as they came closer.
"What is it?" she asked, but quickly received her answer as he reached out and pushed the gate, it swing open freely with a load creak. His eyes met hers.
"You may want to keep that gun at the ready."
"…why?"
"Because we're not alone here."