Dear Reader,
Thank you for taking the time to read my story. I hope you all enjoyed the first chapter. What do you think of my protagonist so far? I tried to stay away from anything revealing a sense of the way she looks so you might get a good idea of her character. Reviews and comments would be much appreciated. Thank you, R.
Disclaimer: I do not own, nor do I intend to infringe the Batman franchise or its characters. I merely wish to expand upon the brilliance that has been created in order to fulfil my longing for more.
I put on my navy pea coat in front of the slim wave shaped mirror. My cold, brown hair was bundled high on my head, wisps of stubborn locks falling out past my ears. It would have to do. Leggings were not as warm as jeans but I wore them for comfort. There is nothing worse than trying to reach for things in a lab when you are wearing jeans. I was excited to start testing. We already had a large batch of candidates ready to test our new remedy. I painted a thin line of eyeliner over my lash line and let it flick up slightly at the corners. The eyeliner always looked like I had made more effort than I did on my makeup. I couldn't wear mascara or foundation to work because the fumes from the lab would melt it down. My face was clean though, sterilised. It shone through powder like the surface of a balloon or tanned marble with a cherry blotch on each cheek. I didn't like much about myself like most girls but my skin was good and my waist was disproportionately small compared to my thighs. Other than that I was a remarkably ordinary looking twenty five year old.
I poked around at my muesli saving the fat raisins until last. They were succulent and jammy and soft. I thought I must get a fish or a hamster; maybe even a budgie to keep me company whilst I was in Gotham but it would not have been fair on the poor animal since I was gone most of the day. We had the option of living with members of our research team but I decided against it since the main talking point would have always been work. Despite this, I did look forward to seeing them every day. They were a little piece of home; a civilised bunch of young Brits.
"You won't find a man in America." said my mother before I left. "They are all too wild for you."
It was true I did have a tendency to wreck any kind of relationship I had with anyone because of my inability to lose control. I liked to always have a stringent plan, a map of my life lain out in front of me so that I might not get lost. Everything had to be for a purpose; Gotham was my opportunity to conquer a part of the medical world and advance my career. I barely expected any of the events during the following six months to happen. The scrape of my car keys on the work top as I got up to leave echoed in the hard, clinical kitchen. It was a symbol of my aloneness and yes; I was glad to be on my way to the lab.
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The laboratory was situated within a large, fluorescent white building, emitting the same lurid glow as Gotham City Hospital. People barged past me on the dirty street as I stood looking at it after leaving my car in a gated, underground car park. A thin blonde woman in a lab coat was talking to a pretty, round faced receptionist who I guessed was the one who decorated the black marble counter with plastic red Anthuriums. The blonde turned to me as I pushed my way through a stiff revolving door.
"I don't know whether either of you can help me but…"
"Oh don't tell me! You must be one of the British researchers that we are so happy to have here." She said cutting me off. "And which one of them might you be?"
"I'm Carlotta White; lovely to meet you miss..?"
"Call me Katie Hun. I'll be working with you and my colleague Damien. He's the thin guy with a ponytail. Hear that Rachel?" She said to the receptionist "Carlotta, what a name!"
Katie directed me to the lab and said she would be up to brief us as soon as everyone arrived. Dexter, Abigail and Joe, my colleagues, were waiting for me chatting amongst the curling glass equipment.
"Ah, here she is." said Dexter as I walked in.
"Hi guys." I said
"Harry anywhere behind you?" said Abigail looking past me.
"No I didn't see him, how are you finding Gotham?"
"Well it's no Richmond-Upon-Thames that's for sure" Joe snorted.
"Oi, I grew up in Croydon!" shouted Dexter "you little suburban angels need to get used to the city."
We all giggled together on our first day like children. Dexter always had the ability to get us giggling no matter how close a deadline or how busy we were. He and his mother lived alone in a small flat in west Croydon. He had told us all crazy stories of his early teens like when he and his friends would sunbathe on top of bus stops in the summer and swim in the fountain at Trafalgar square. It was only for his mother that he even went to school and of course for his gorgeous young biology teacher. And so, Dexter became passionate about the human body, especially hers and got top grades and continued to do so through until he finished his PhD and landed a job in neurological research. You could see his love of success through his smile. His stiff jowls framed his large teeth every time we made a breakthrough as if he did not expect to succeed. His brown eyes were flat like a burnt plane contrasting to the ruffling dark curls on his head which looked rather boyish on his tall body. He and Joe got on incredibly well despite their different upbringings. It just goes to show that one doesn't have to have been privately educated like Joe to get where we were. Joe was chunkier than Dexter. He had a real love for cooking and there had been many a time we had enjoyed a beautiful dinner party at his apartment. If he had not gone in to neuroscience he would have become a chef or even an engineer; it would have been a job where he could have put something together. I liked the way his thin hair was fluffy on top of his round head, stubble trained around his jaw and cheeks. I could only really describe his accent as very West London; soft and rolling, like Hugh Grant's. Abigail was very much like me in the sense she kept herself quiet and controlled but would laugh and smile with us when things were genuinely funny. She was born in Japan originally but had moved to the UK when her mother had her own little fairy tale when she fell for her boss during the time she worked for him as a PA. Her father was a GP so found it easy to get Abi into the medical field. When Abi was not with us working, she was most probably painting in her elegant way to create cubist pieces that would be hung all around her Gotham apartment.
"Harry, hi! Where've you been." Said Abi who had been watching the door.
Abi went to him before he could reach us and embraced him in a private moment. We all knew that she had felt something for him but little Harry didn't really seem to respond much unless he had some alcohol down him. Harry was only two inches taller than the five foot seven Abigail whose black hair stuck to his olive face as she pulled away from him. Abi had lovely green eyes, still slanted but wide and she had creamy skin that had the remains of a golden Japanese tone. Harry lingered by her for a moment before looking over to us. Although confident and cocky, we had never seen Harry in a relationship. Whether this is because he had feelings for Abi but just had never acted upon them we didn't know. It was not like he was bad looking, in fact Harry could really be considered gorgeous by most. His smile was wide and beautifully inviting set in an angular, stubble coated chin. His nose was gentle slope that fell down from his amber fox like eyes. It was true that you did not get many modelesque men or women working in the scientific field as most of us had little time to think about such things but for Harry, it was effortless.
"Alright guys? I got so confused trying to get here. This place is a bloody maze." Katie followed closely behind him, her bright Hollywood grin beaming and Carl behind her.
Abi's cheeks turned a jealous scarlet as Katie lingered close to Harry; it was written on her face how she hated the blonde near him and how he did not seem to notice either of them.
"Well, I am glad you have all arrived finally and we can begin the tour of the building." Katie said. "There is a lot of research going on in here and a lot I want you to know so… where is Carl? He is supposed to be showing you round the building."
We shrugged at her. I hadn't seen Carl since he met us at the airport which was good since he was a very slimy man whose eyes lingered too long around my buttocks and whose stomach pushed out from the spaces between his grubby plaid shirt. He was comfortable showing us where the bad streets in Gotham were as he pointed knowingly down each of them. Katie stamped and cast her eyes around the room as if she were expecting to find Carl the greasy orienteer hiding somewhere amongst the glass bottles and flasks, almost instantly though her annoyance was forgotten.
"Damien! I thought you were up here somewhere. Come and meet our fabulous new team. This is Dexter, Abi, Joe, Harry and Carlotta. I still can't get over that name.
Damien was quite but friendly as we were shown around the giant building of white stone and glass. Katie was speaking the truth when she had said there was a lot of research being carried out in the building, not just for medical purposes but for cosmetics and cleaning products too. The place was literally a great sterile bomb ready to go off, cash being flowed into it day after day. I was ready to work then; ready to start creating our masterpiece that would change all of our lives for good.