Second chapter! Yay! Really excited and happy to finally be writing this story. Here's the second chapter, I hope you all enjoy!
Disclaimer: I do not own Batman or any other DC characters involved with this story. All rights go to their respective owners, I only own my ideas.
13 years later
Amber gave an annoyed sigh as the compound she had been working on failed to react. The chemicals in her chemistry class were either expired or she simply needed to retake basic Chemistry. But seeing as she was nineteen and working in Gotham University's Chemistry lab, she really should know what she was doing; after all, she was considered one of the university's smartest students where Chemistry was involved. However, this chemical compound she had been working on just wouldn't react properly.
Recently, Amber and a few other select students in her Chemistry course had been chosen to take part in the University's research for a new type of military weapon Wayne Enterprises was funding. They wanted a liquid that could be nonlethal yet effective to knocking out enemy troops in droves without killing them. While the idea was interesting and she could see the concern in not wanting to lose troops on either side of combat, Amber just couldn't see how it was meant to work. Nevertheless, she and the others worked tirelessly to perfect the compound before field testing was scheduled to begin next fall.
"AMBER!" A high pitched voice called. Amber winced as her cousin, Harleen, came crashing into the room. She braced herself for the expected tackling hug she was about to receive from the overexcited blonde. Sure enough, not a moment later, Amber was almost knocked off her feet by the 5'3" woman.
"Harley," Amber whined the nickname. "I'm really busy right now, you can't just barge in here whenever you want!"
"I know but I'm just so excited right now I simply had to tell you what's happening tonight!" Harley squealed; unfortunately, that squealing happened right in Amber's unsuspecting ear.
"Do I even want to know what's going on," Amber winced.
"I got a call just now from Dr. Jeremiah Arkham! He's accepted me into the intern program at Arkham Asylum, isn't that great!" Harley explained excitedly. Harley was a Psychology student at the age of eighteen. She had been so eager to become a therapist that right after graduating high school she joined summer classes at Gotham University to start her path to her future career. Recently, Arkham Asylum had announced to universities and colleges all over Gotham that they were taking interns (both experienced and inexperienced) to help take care of all the new inmates The Batman had been bringing in.
Ah, Batman. Amber found him definitely fascinating in terms of mystery while Harley wanted to sit him down on a couch and try to find out why he dressed like a giant bat. Batman had only been present in Gotham for about a year now and it seemed almost every day a new 'super villain' was showing up. Poison Ivy, The Mad Hatter, Penguin, and Two Face to name a few had shown up in the last few months. A few of them were currently serving time in Arkham, but according to the media Poison Ivy had recently escaped.
Still, despite the rise in new super villains, normal crime rates have been going down since most small time criminals were too afraid to commit any crimes. It was only those involved with the mafia or completely loony that continued committing crimes. No matter how many times Batman stopped them, took them to Blackgate or Arkham, they all kept continuing their lives of crime. It's amazing how one man was able to decrease crime rates within two months than the entire Gotham PD could decrease in a year. The GCPD in a word hated Batman and how the whole of Gotham depended on a masked vigilante rather than the law. All of them had dreams or ideas of arresting Batman, unmasking him, and throwing him in Arkham where they believed he belonged; well, everyone at GCPD except Commissioner Gordon.
"Well, that's great," Amber feigned enthusiasm. "I know you've been really wanting to get into that program for months now."
Harley finally let go of Amber and sat down in a nearby chair. "Oh, it's gonna be great! I can't wait to get there and start seeing actual therapists helping the patients. I'll also get to sit in on some sessions myself and see how the doctors interact with the patients during therapy. It'll be hard to keep myself from wanting to act like a real doctor, ya know, and interview the patients. But still, if I want to secure a future job there now I'll need to be on my best behavior!"
While Harley rattled on Amber went back to her notes. Changing a few things here and there she only offered a couple 'mhmms' and 'uh-huhs' every few seconds and only one actual 'yeah'
"-great! So you're driving right?" Harley finished.
Amber's head snapped up in response to see Harley leaning over the other side of the desk smiling expectantly at her.
"What?"
"You just said 'yeah' you'll come with come with me to the intern interview tonight." Harley reminded.
"Oh," Amber sighed. "Why do you need me to come with? You can go yourself since it's your interview, Harley."
"I know, but we don't get to hang out much now that you're working on this project for Wayne Enterprises. I missed you," Harley pouted. "Plus, I'm really nervous about it and I would like to have some support there for me since my folks are back in New York and Aunt Jeannie is dead."
Amber sighed once more, her mother had passed during her Junior year of high school. Jeanette was like a second mother to Harley since Harley's parent's had shipped her to Gotham at the age of thirteen to live with Jeanette and Amber. Both Amber and Harley very much felt the loss still. Amber knew that she was currently Harley's only support system here in Gotham.
"Fine," Amber caved. "I'll take you tonight. We can get dinner after, or something."
Harley squealed in delight before leaning over and once again embracing Amber in a hug. "You're the best1 My interview is at six so pick me up at 4:30 so we can beat traffic and have plenty of time to spare." Harley then let go of Amber and skipped over to the door with a final wave of goodbye.
Amber smiled, "Sweet kid."
A few minutes later Professor Baker walked in with none other than Bruce Wayne. While the other students (especially the female ones) gawked over him, Amber kept her distance. Knowing Bruce while growing up made the whole "fame" thing seem silly. He was just a normal human being, his parents were just really good at business and at making said business grow. However, despite their childhood friendship, both Amber and Bruce had grown apart in recent years. It made sense, Amber was finishing high school and entering college while Bruce had disappeared for a few years to "find himself." When he returned, he was running Wayne Enterprises as well as obviously enjoying the inheritance his folks left for him.
It wasn't that Amber was mad at him or that she disliked his parents, it wasn't even that he wasn't an intelligent guy, she just hated seeing him waste his life away with one girl after the next, fancy cars, and parties. So much potential, if only he truly focused on helping his father's company grow rather than leaving it to be run by others who were, to be honest, a little questionable.
Despite Amber's distance from the crowd surrounding him, Bruce still easily was able to lock eyes with her from across the room. He smiled at he and Amber returned it with an amused smile of her own. Bruce certainly had become a handsome young man. At twenty three years old, Bruce had filled out nicely in the muscle department, while his features became less boyish and more chiseled. Add his dark hair and stunning blue eyes and every woman in Gotham was falling at his feet.
"Ah, Amber," Prof. Baker called. "Mr. Wayne, I'm sure you're familiar with Amber Connery." Prof. Baker led Bruce over to where Amber was standing and the two shook hands.
"Yes, Amber and I have met before." Bruce smiled.
"Great! Well then, since you really don't need an introduction I'll go ahead and let Miss Connery give you a summary of what we have so far."
"Well," Amber started. "We haven't much further since Mr. Fox came last month to check our progress." Prof. Baker visibly paled in nervousness at Amber's blunt statement while Bruce appeared to be listening a bit more. "We've been having some problems with getting the mixture of the chemicals right but so far we've come up with a very strange reaction."
Amber led them to some test tubes, a few red and blue liquids here and there in the beakers along with some purples, but one stood out: a bright green liquid. Amber quickly put on a pair of gloves and goggles while handing some to Bruce and Prof. Baker. Taking a pair of tongs from a nearby tray she dipped the tongs into the green chemical. The reaction was immediate as the part of the tongs dipped in the liquid seemed to immediately melt away.
"Obviously, it's not physically ready to be tested in the field yet since it'll eat away at skin and muscle rather quickly. We're still trying to find ways to make it less acidic so that it won't harm the human body. The military is trying to reduce deaths, not cause more of them." Amber chuckled darkly. Bruce gave a slight chuckle of his own as Amber removed what was left of the tongs and throw them away. "But it's not only that that's been causing us problems." Amber continued.
"We tried to see if maybe since as a solid the chemical was too dangerous to use upon skin contact we could maybe see if it could be used as a gas instead. This didn't have favorable results either since the test rats began acting very... odd once they were exposed." Amber explained. She led them over to an area in the room that had a rather large cage for the lab rats. Inside two rats scurried about, however one of them seemed to be shuddering every once in a while.
"What happened when you exposed the rats?" Bruce asked.
"The one shuddering is the one that was exposed while the other hasn't been exposed to anything. We can't tell for certain but the brain activity seems to be on overdrive in certain areas while shutting down in others. It hasn't killed the rat yet, but I don't see it living for much longer." All three of them stared as the small rodent would walk and then shudder, walk and then shudder. It seemed to be breathing rapidly, too, as if it couldn't catch its breath.
"Professor Baker," Amber hesitated. "If you don't mind me saying, I can't see this project ever becoming a success; there's too much going against it and the compounds that are needed are too volatile to be considered safe to use."
Prof. Baker slowly nodded his head as he considered her statement, showing that he heard and understood what she said. Instead of answering, he turned to Bruce with a smile.
"Well, Mr. Wayne, I believe that's all we can report today. Why don't I take you on a tour of our beautiful school, however, so you can see the other departments we have to offer." Prof. Baker walked towards Bruce and placed a hand on his shoulder despite the fact that Bruce was a good two feet taller than the Professor.
"I would love but I'm afraid I must decline," Bruce apologized. "I have a lunch meeting at one that I really can't be late to."
Amber tuned them out as she gazed pityingly on the shuddering rat. What was truly going on with it? Despite the research on the rat's brain activity after being exposed to the gas, no one really knew for sure what was going on. If only they had a human test subject to see how the human mind would react...
"Amber," Prof. Baker called. Amber turned her attention towards him mid-thought and noticed Bruce was now gone. "I know you have concerns, so do I. But we can't stop this project until we've tried everything, and I mean everything." With that said, he turned on his heel and exited the room.
Amber slowly walked back to her work station and stared at her notes.
A human test subject, I wonder if I should...NO! You don't want to end up like those crazy folks dressing up in weird costumes and terrorizing people. Amber shook the thought from her head. There was no way she was going to make herself a human lab rat just to sate some stupid curiosity. However, a little voice in the back of her head smiled at the opportunity, and laid in wait for the time strike.
Second chapter down! I'm really proud of myself. So far I've been feeling pretty passionate about this story and I can't wait for you guys to read the surprises that will come down the road. I hope this story is translating into writing well since, like I said in the last chapter, this story has been developing for well over a year but it's been like a movie in my head. So hopefully, it's coming out all right! Thank you guys so much for reading and thank you to those who reviewed the last chapter! Much appreciated!