For the longest time, Jess stared at the bronze puzzle box on her desk. She rotated the dials a few times before blowing a raspberry. She turned towards the letter on her desk and opened it.
She finally hit a roadblock.
And it wasn't a good thing either. A criminal was running free on the streets of Gotham like it was an amusement park. The longer it took for Jess to track clues down, the faster the man playing games with the city would be behind bars. "Anything?" Jim asked while walking to her desk. She shook her head with a sigh. "Can't we just break open the damn thing?"
"We do that, we risk damaging whatever is inside." Jess gently placed the paper onto the plush casing it came in. "If they're sticking to the movie or the book, it's a piece of papyrus, wrapped around a vial of vinegar. You break open the Cryptex, the vial breaks and you lose the information forever." She leaned back in her chair with her arms crossed. "It's so weird… the Dan Brown collection is my favorite mystery series. How could they know that?"
Jim shrugged his shoulders with the same expression Jess held. "I don't know kid, but, if there is anyone who can figure out the bizarre, it's you." He looked back down at the small card in her hands with furrowed brows. It was just a cluster of words that made no sense.
Weatherproofing Mythisms Fattists Mash Mog
"Maybe it's just gibberish." Adonis said while munching on a donut. Adonis Spinnaker, her current partner at the Precinct, had been watching Jess struggle from afar. He was a tall man, tan skin, and piercing green eyes. She's said he's not her type, but she seems to be his. He had no clue where to start and usually left the more complex puzzles to his partner.
"No…" Jess droned lowly. Abruptly, like a gust of wind kicking itself up into a frenzy, it clicked in her head. "It's not gibberish," She hit her forehead with the palm of her hand. "It's a goddamn anagram." She cursed to herself. "Why the hell didn't I see it sooner? It's just like the movie."
Adonis frowned at the word that flew out of her mouth. "A what?"
"An anagram." She repeated. "It's a word or a sentence formed by rearranging the letters of another sentence. The hard part is you can only use the original letters once." Jess brought out a piece of paper and a pen. "Like Angel is in the form of Glean." Jess got to work, trying to decode the jumble of words on the card.
Jim and Adonis left her to do what she did best. She was lost in her head, writing, and scribbling out words that didn't make sense. Jess got up, stomping into Jim's office, something she tended to do. "Jim, I need…" She froze in her spot once she saw Batman in Jim's office and not Jim himself. "Where is the commissioner?"
No answer. He continued shuffling papers around like she didn't just ask him a question. Jess felt her right eye twitch in annoyance. She cleared her throat to catch his attention once more. "Jim isn't here." He replied gruffly.
"And what are you doing?"
"None of your concern." He answered.
Jess felt the tips of her ears grow red. She figured that Batman and Jim had some sort of unspoken agreement when it came to certain cases. People like Joker and Victor Zsasz were some of the many ones Jim usually handed off to Batman to solve on his own. "My momma raised me to look someone in the eye when having a conversation. I would appreciate it if you did the same."
The shadow of Gotham stopped his shuffling that completely radiated annoyance. He turned his gaze to meet Jess's. "What?"
"What are you looking for?" Jess asked with her arms crossed. If there was one thing she wouldn't stand for, it was being rude when she hasn't given him any reason to. He may have saved her from a predicament that could have turned ugly but that didn't mean she was going to let this tall, gothic, man with trust issues walk all over her.
"A file that deals with Victor Zsasz." He replied with a grunt. "Is that enough for you?"
Jess pursed her lips before reaching for the file cabinet. She pulled out one of the drawers and pulled out Victor's file. She slapped it down onto the pile of folders already on the desk. "Next time, just ask." Jess spun on her heel with a huff. "And lock the window on your way out." She knew he was glaring a hole into the back of her head; she could feel it and alas she didn't give a single damn.
The detective only went back to her desk to figure out the anagram herself. She was going to call Barbara, but it was already late, and that woman needed sleep. A few minutes of scribbling later, she had done it. She decoded the note. "Figured something out?"
Jess jumped at the same deep voice behind her. She covered her chest with her hand. "Do you like to just sneak up on people?" She asked with a small glare.
Batman stood behind her like a shadow. He had the smallest hint of a smirk on his face. "What have you decoded?"
She held up her notebook for Batman to read. "What part of the system is missing from Gotham." She cited. She tossed it back onto her desk as it landed on the wood with a dull slap. "Since most villains from the city feel like they've been cheated out of justice, I would conclude it to be that."
Batman, with the same blank stare, watched Jess grab the Cryptex and fiddled with the dials. "Justice is a seven-letter word."
"Yeah, it is, but…" She twisted the edge of the bronze device after putting in the password. It pulled open, popping out a long tube. "Equity is a synonym for justice."
"Impressive." Batman spoke.
She gave a small smile to the vigilante in the police department. It seemed to be just them two on the homicide floor. All her other coworkers were out patrolling the city. Jess turned back to the portable vault and took out the vial inside. She unraveled the papyrus from the vial. "Shockingly… this was too easy."
"I know." Batman agreed while taking the vial from her hands. He was aggressive with everything he did, even talking annoyed Jess just a little bit. And he was always so quiet, it was starting to creep her out. He held the vial, something that looked like it came straight out of a high school chemistry class, up to the buzzing light above them.
"What is that?" Jess asked with her brows pinched together.
There was a pregnant pause before Batman spoke again. "Its teeth." He rattled the teeth as they bounced against the glass. "And it's fresh."
Jess wasn't going to question how he knew the answer to that. Instead, she opted to keep her mouth shut about the answer she got. "That means we have a victim on our hands." The vibrating of her phone on her rickety desk alerted the two examining the teeth. She reached for her cellphone. "I'll send those down to labs to see if we have any dental records on file." She pressed the call button on her phone. "This is Kent."
"We have a body." Adonis spoke on the phone. "And from the looks of it, she's missing her teeth." Her partner's last sentence sent a chill down her spine.
"Where's the victim?" She asked, grabbing her notepad from her jacket.
Adonis looked around him for a second. "Down by the old theatre all those prostitutes round up by."
"On my way." Jess hung up the phone before snatching the vial from Batman's hands. He sent a glare her way, most likely annoyed that someone interrupted his analysis. "I would let you continue to play around with the teeth rattle like you're some twisted three-year-old, but there's been a body found with missing teeth." She wrapped her scarf around her. "CSU is gonna take a closer look at these once they get her body."
"Where is the crime scene?" Batman asked. He didn't bother to hide the fact that he listened in on her whole conversation.
Jess gave him a sarcastic smile. "I would tell you, but I know you know the answer to that question." She gave a little wave right before the elevator doors closed. She'd rather deal with constant questions Lois Lane than brooding and aloof Batman any day. Would someone say that the silence Batman gives off makes her uncomfortable? 100 percent. But would she confess to that? Absolutely not. Just like she wouldn't tell anyone that if he was to ask her to have sex with him, she would agree because she's that desperate for dick.
It's wildly inappropriate to even think about. But being horny and constantly failing at finding a man who can break her back is hard work. Jess shook her head to rid herself of those, incredibly, inappropriate thoughts and stepped out of the elevator. She instructed Jones to send the teeth off to the lab and took her keys out of her pocket.
Although she walked to work, her car was always parked in front of the precinct. No one in their right mind would steal a car or tires in front of the GCPD. She could never be too sure; it was Gotham after all.
Jess stood in front of the corpse of a young woman that look almost like her. Long black hair, button nose, but had higher cheekbones than she did. Her eyes were wide open in fear, stuck forever in a silent trance and unable to tell Jess who her abuser was. This woman's lips were swollen and black, due to her having all her teeth ripped out, and had words carved into her torso.
"Let me know if you can't handle this. I can be your shoulder." Adonis said upon seeing Jess's silent aura. She bit her tongue to keep herself from saying something spiteful. If there was one thing she couldn't stand about her partner, it was his compulsive need to try and make her feel saved. He had a giant hero complex which made him seem like a narcissist.
Instead, Jess moved around the body to put distance between them. She looked over to Pam, the woman on the CSU team. "Any I.D. Pam?"
Pam Castel, an Italian woman with an interest in the undead and the afterlife, handed Jess a wallet. The wallet was rectangular, all black, and had an assortment of knives on it with SCREAM slashed across it, with fake blood splatter on it. Jess concluded it was most likely bought from Spencer's or Hot Topic because she had to convince herself not to buy the wallet the first time, she saw it.
Scream was one of her favorite slasher films to watch, whether it be Halloween or Valentine's Day. Pam brought Jess back to reality. "Her name is Morgan Mitchem, 27-years-old, and shares your love of cheesy slasher films."
"Scream isn't a cheesy slasher film and I take that statement personally," Jess said with her eyes glued on Morgan's driver's license. "She's literally me… the only thing that differentiates the two of us is our birthday." She looked down at Morgan once again. The words carved into her torso were too slow in the ragged strokes of a knife. "Do you have an idea what could have killed her?"
Pam used her pen to point towards the green around Morgan's mouth. "All these wounds on her body were after she was killed. I'm suggesting whatever this substance is around her mouth is what killed her."
"Kent!" Jim called upon entering the crime scene.
"Excuse me." Jess said and walked over to Jim. "Yes, Commissioner?"
Jim pulled her over to the side of the crime scene, Adonis watching with a close eye. "I believe it will be best if you worked with someone other than Adonis on this case."
"Who?" Jess asked with a raised brow.
In a hushed voice, Jim spoke. "Batman."
"E-Excuse me?" Jess sputtered as her eyes widened. "You have got to be kidding me!"
"I wouldn't be telling you it like this if I was." Jim sighed at the little frustrated growl she gave. "Listen, kid, you're one of my best detectives. I trust Batman more than anyone else in this city."
"Jim, he's brooding, he's rude, and has no respect for me." She ranted. "I mean, I deal with that enough from three of the guys on my team, I'm not going to take it from a man with hidden psychological issues." Jess noticed the way Jim's flickered behind her shoulder. "He's behind me, isn't he?" Jim scratched at his mustache just as Jess spun around to match Batman's, already, intimidating stare.
Instead of opening her mouth to speak, she walked around him back to her crime scene. Once she arrived, Pam was giving her the smuggest look. "Wow, World's Greatest Detective meets GCPD's renowned Detective. I wonder how this is going to play out."
"You're not scared of him?" Jess asked. "Everyone else is."
"Unlike most people, I have nothing to be scared of him for." Pam began to scribble down little markings or ligature marks on the corpse. "You're only scared of Batman if you have a reason to be. He punishes the wicked, something that I'm not."
Jess smirked. "Oh please, we're all just a little wicked."
"In the bedroom I am." Pam snorted before standing up to her full height of five foot four. "Okay, I'm gonna get this back to the lab."
"Call me when you find a cause of death." Jess said as Pam gave a nod. The Detective stuffed her cold hands into her jacket pockets with a small breath of air from her nose. She closed her eyes and allowed herself to analyze what could possibly have happened. That was until she heard Adonis behind her.
"Can you believe we aren't partners on this case anymore?" He asked with an annoyed huff. "Who else is gonna watch after you?"
"I think I'll be fine." Jess replied with a tight-lipped smile. "Besides, I think it's best if you do other cases. I tend to drag you along."
Adonis only shrugged with his hands in his pockets. "I like being around you. And you've only been in the city about a year, there's still a lot you haven't seen."
"Of course, I haven't seen anything like this, Adonis, that woman looked just like me." Jess grunted. "I'm going to be busy so if there's anything you need help with, just send me a text." She paused. "For work only."
Adonis gave Jess the same tight-lipped smile she had. "I'll see you around, Kent." He spun on his heel, striding straight past Batman, who was eyeing Adonis the minute he got to the crime scene. Jess released a breath she didn't realize she was holding. Batman stood beside Jess, analyzing the scene like she was doing before she was interrupted.
It was silent between the two for what felt like hours. "Be careful with him." Batman started bending down to pick up something from the floor. "He's had… obsessions in the past."
"Thanks for the concern." Jess spoke. "What is that?" She asked with a raised brow.
Batman's face went from a blank stare to a hardened glare. It surprised Jess because of how fast it happened. He was holding a bloodied playing card with the Joker's face on it. Suddenly, Jess's phone rang. She plunged her hand into her pocket and yanked out her BlackBerry phone. "This is Kent."
"I know Batman is there with you. You two need to get to the lab like it was yesterday." Pam said over the phone. "Your case just took a huge twist."
Jess walked through the double doors of the GCPD's CSU department with Batman hot on her tail. It was in the basement, hence why Jess, along with the rest of the precinct, called the basement Pet's Cemetery. The smell of the world's top-notch disinfectants hit her nostrils, never failing to make her dizzy. The smell of the body, however, didn't affect her as much anymore.
Practically ignoring Jess, Pam greeted the shadow behind Jess first. "Batman." She answered uninterestedly.
"Pamela." He greeted with a simple head nod.
"What do you have?" Jess asked.
Pam held up a small test tube, sealed by a silicone stub. The contents inside were a long white cotton swab soaked on one end with a green substance. "We have a copycat." Pam said.
"What do you mean?" Batman questioned with curiosity laced in his tone.
"It's Joker toxin, but the components are different." She handed Batman the vial. "Instead of laughing to death, all of her internal organs were melted."
Jess stared down at Morgan's face solemnly. "Let me guess, Joker is taking the rap for it?"
"He couldn't have, he's in Arkham." Batman jumped in.
"But he could have given someone the formula to make it." Pam said. Jess's phone began to ring, interrupting the moment.
"This is Kent." She was silent for a second as she listened to Gordon's calm, yet panicked, voice on the other end of the phone. It turns out, Joker was indeed still in Arkham, but he requested an audience. This usually meant he wanted to waste precious time to be the center of attention once again. The complexity of Joker was something everyone always told Jess never to try and make sense of or she too would end up mentally insane like the Clown Prince of Crime.
"Let me guess," Pam started with her lips pursed. "Joker wants to talk?"
Jess gave Pam a look. "You thought correctly."