"I just can't believe that Lady Arkham was actually Vicki Vale this entire time…." Alfred breathes after I've caught him up. My head rests against the cool glass of the car's window, glad to finally be in my own clothes, despite the bandages wrapped around my shoulder in dire need of a change, and out of the Asylum.
"And all the while she was working with Cobblepot to try and bring me down."
"It's a good thing the family lawyers were able to get you out so quickly." I'm surprised they helped at all.
"No kidding. Batman's got some work to do."
"Even during Batman's brief….'hiatus', Gotham has become that much more dangerous." I pick my head up off the glass to meet Alfred's eyes in the rearview mirror. "And the public opinion on Bruce Wayne….well, it certainly hasn't gotten any better." I break eye contact to stare unseeingly out the window. "I'm sure you'll figure something out. You always do." He tries to reassure me when I feel my phone vibrate in my pocket.
Heard you got out. Still crazy?
Selina. I thought she left town. Why does she care? I slip my phone back in my pocket.
Alfred reaches forward to turn the radio up just a little for the evening news. "If you've noticed the streets of Gotham have been a lot quieter recently, you're not alone." The broadcaster reports when my phone vibrates once more and I sigh as I pull it back out.
I saw what happened with Oz. Just wanted to make sure you're ok.
"The GCPD has reported a sudden and steep drop in violent crimes-"
+ I hear Harv is out for blood
"-in the past few days with the numbers of 911 calls-"
Sounds like he wants you dead
"-falling off a whopping sixty percent. Many are attributing it to a decrease in the visibility of the terrorist group Children of Arkham,"
I've handled way worse than Harvey
I'll be fine
I finally respond before looking away from my phone to resume listening to the radio. "-whose members seem to be taking some time off."
kk tough guy
I roll my eyes. "Or maybe it's just our new Mayor Dent making good on his campaign promise to bring down crime in the city. Either way, the citizens are breathing a sigh of relief."
You're a good man, Bruce
You should know that
I'm not sure what Selina is hoping to accomplish but I decide to think about it later as I move to shut my phone all the way off. However, my phone begins vibrating with an incoming call and Harvey's face flashes beneath his caller I.D.
Alfred's eyes meet mine in the mirror, understanding instantly who is calling as his forehead creases with worry, eyes returning to the road as I accept the call.
"Hello, Harvey." I greet with as little emotion as I can muster.
"You should've stayed in the asylum where I put you," Harvey growls.
"What do you want, Harvey?"
"The streets of Gotham are a dangerous place for someone like you right now." Harvey feigns concern but it doesn't last long. "You'll figure that out….eventually. But by then it'll be too late."
I try to look on the bright side, that maybe that wasn't as much of a threat as it sounded. "I'll be fine, Harvey. I can handle myself."
"I don't think you understand the danger you're in. Maybe you haven't heard, but the Children of Arkham have gone underground. Obviously plotting some sort of attack, and people are scared. Panicking.
"I needed to show them that my resolve hasn't weakened, that Gotham is still strong, so I gave them an enemy. You and your family's filthy corruption." I fight the urge to be the jackass that throws in his face that without my family's money, he wouldn't be where he is right now.
"The last thing I need is you traipsing around Gotham." God, this isn't the Harvey I know. I have no idea who this man is, but it's not Harvey.
"Would you listen to yourself? You sound insane."
"No!" He growls. "I'm just a man who's done letting assholes like you run the world and take whatever they want. Can't let you keep running around scot-free, Bruce. It's the will of the people."
"You can spare me your 'will of the people' crap, Harvey. I know this is personal."
"You knew I was interested in Selina. What you did was a low blow, Bruce. A real man wouldn't have done that." If only I could tell him I have absolutely no interest in Selina because the woman I love is Princess of the Amazons, better than any other woman in the world, but I hold my tongue on that. However, he needs to understand that I didn't do anything with Selina.
"Harvey, listen to me. I know what you think happened, but Selina and I are just friends, if that."
"Don't tell me what I think happened! You're a goddamn liar!" I feel my blood pressure begin to rise and as I grow more upset, the ringing in my ears begins and I see the veins in my forearm begin to pulse blue. No, no, no, please, not right now. I can't hurt Alfred if I get worked up like this.
I grit my teeth and squeeze my eyes shut, trying not to crush the phone in my hand or give away how much I'm struggling to maintain control.
"Bruce? Bruce! You can't ignore me-"
"We're done talking," I say as evenly as possible before ending the call. Just as I feel myself begin to calm down, Alfred begins speaking.
"Mistress Diana has been awfully worried about you. Had to nearly restrain her to keep her from breaking you out of Arkham herself." That brings a small grin to my face, but brings back my worries about her, about us, to the forefront of my mind.
Surely she won't want me anymore, she won't want anything to do with me. I attacked a man, nearly killing him. I was thrown into an insane asylum. What if she doesn't want to be with me anymore? What if she realizes I'm too dark to be with? I don't think I could remain standing if that happened. It'd be the final blow that would end it all for me.
"Oh no," Alfred begins to slow, pulling me from my head as I notice the blockade set up ahead of us.
"What's going on?" I ask, sitting forward in my seat as an armed and heavily armored guard approaches the car, which has rolled to a stop. The guard doesn't come to Alfred's window, however, instead rounding the car and stopping at mine. Alfred shoots me an apologetic look before rolling down my window.
The man bends over to be eye level with me. His eyes, which are the only piece of his face that's visible with his face covered in a more official version of a ski mask, are cold and squinting harshly at me. "Well, well, well, Bruce Wayne. You really must've done something to piss the Mayor off so much. Heh, maybe I'll get a bonus for this." For what? I tense, half expecting the man to reach through the window and punch me or grab for me.
Instead, he issues a command. "Open the trunk, we're searching the car. If we find anything tying you to the Children of Arkham, including drugs, weapons, or any other suspicious materials, you will be taken into custody." I have nothing to hide but I wouldn't put it past him to plant something or simply lie and say he found something when nothing's there.
"Go ahead. I've got nothing to hide." I sit back against the seat, crossing my arms.
"Doesn't sound like it," the cop taunts. "Besides, everyone's hiding something." Just then, a car door is heard slamming from behind us as a man angrily approaches.
"Come on! What's the hold up?" Then he notices me as the guard straightens to confront him.
"Get back to your car!" He orders as I look at Alfred, his face lined with worry. This isn't going to end well. The ringing starts up in my ears again and my head pounds, my heartbeat growing louder and louder as it echoes through my head.
"Of course….should've known." The man snorts cruelly as he bends down at my window. "Go back to Arkham, you damn maniac!" He yells through the window at me, a woman stepping up behind him with her phone held up to record the confrontation.
"The hell?" I lean away from the window, hoping that if I can put distance between myself and the group gathering outside, I'll be less likely to act out.
"Careful, or you'll be the next Cobblepot!" the woman with the phone yells.
"Showing your face in public like this, not very smart!" The man snarks and I just sit there staring at them, trying hard not to respond at all. I keep my face as neutral as possible as they all glare expectantly at me.
Another man steps up to the window on the other side of the car. "They should lock you up!" He shouts through the glass.
"Alfred….I'm sorry. I don't know-" Alfred holds up a hand to stop me.
"You'll be fine, I'll be fine. We just need to get out of this mess-" a loud slam followed by the car rocking cuts Alfred off. A quick glance outside shows that someone had just hit the car with a baseball bat.
The guard holds up his rifle and shoots into the air a few times. "Next one won't be a warning shot!" he threatens before leaning back down to the window. "Alright, now the way I see it, there are two ways we can do this, Bruce Wayne. Either I let these people at you and see how you handle mob justice or, you could make a little donation to me and my boys to help us stay well-funded. And well-armed. What do you say?" He pumps his eyebrows at me.
"They've got us blocked in. I can't back up." Alfred says with alarm. "This is turning ugly, sir-what would you like to do?"
"Hey! The Mayor's gonna hear about this, and it ain't gonna make him happy!" The guard shouts at the growing number of people outside.
I have two options. Ram the barricade or pay off the enforcer. But even if my money is dirty, I won't willingly support or fund politically powered bullies.
"Ram the barricade." I urge Alfred as the people outside begin slamming against the car again.
"This isn't the batmobile!" Alfred panics.
"Just do it, Alfred!" I shout, nearly throwing myself out of the car to let myself loose on these people, anything to make the ringing stop. To make the pounding and the pulsing and the sound and the feeling go away.
Seeming to sense this, Alfred says nothing further as he slams his foot on the accelerator and we jolt forward. "Hey!" The guard shouts, almost getting his foot run over. The town car slams through the barricades in front of us before screeching around a corner, gunshots following us but none seeming to make an impact.
Alfred slows as we get further away but I hardly notice as I clutch roughly at my head, willing the whine and heartbeat to stop and Alfred notices. "Sir?" He questions worriedly.
Finally, my head quiets and I relax back against the seat. "Just get us home, Al. Fast." He nods and speeds up.
As we begin descending into the batcave, a sharp screech sounds, jolting the elevator slightly before it resumes running normally. But the sound causes my head to begin pounding once more. Alfred places a hand on my shoulder as I clutch at my head again, the headache lessening as quickly as it had worsened.
"I'm fine, okay? I just need to get to the computer."
"You're exhausted." He argues. "And the influence of Lady Arkham's drug may still be affecting you." Just the mention of the drug causes my vision to swim and the sharp ringing to pierce through my ears.
I clench my fists at my side and straighten, the drug relinquishing again. "Harvey is turning Gotham into a police state, Oswald has stolen my company, and we need to find Vicki and the Children of Arkham before they strike again. I can't just ignore it." I snap.
Alfred just looks at me, considering. "You're in no condition to work." He states, clasping his hands behind his back as he meets me gaze head on. The elevator comes to a rather harsh stop, jostling my ribs. "You must get some rest," he pleads with me as we move to step off the elevator.
"Then help me." I insist as the pounding starts up again, this time so intense I nearly faint. I catch myself on the frame of the lift. "Feels like the whole damn cave is coming down around me." I push off of the frame and cradle my head once more as I stumble towards the computer, needing to get this antidote synthesized before my head splits open.
"Of course I'll help you." Alfred pauses. "Let's start by addressing the problem at hand."
"You're right, let's just focus on getting my head clear first. Bring up everything we know about Vicki Vale's drug-" I freeze as a woman stands from my computer chair, hesitating only for a moment before throwing herself at me, wrapping her arms tightly around my shoulders. I all but collapse against her as my arms wrap just as tightly around her, inhaling her jasmine scent as she holds me together.
"Bruce," Diana sighs in relief against my neck. "Oh my god, what's happened to you?" she asks with concern, her eyes flitting all over me as she leans back to assess any new injuries.
"You know, went insane, got thrown in an asylum, rammed a police barricade, same ol' same ol'." I try to play off but she's not interested.
"My love," she cups my face and presses a gentle kiss to my lips and somehow that small act breathes a new gust of life into my chest.
"Sir, the information you've requested is on screen." I pull back from Diana but keep a tight hold of her hand as I step up beside Alfred, relieved she isn't disgusted at the sight of me.
"If I can isolate the presence of the drug, I should be able to synthesize an antidote."
"Sit down, Bruce." I don't fight her as I sit back down in my computer chair, reaching forward with my free hand to type. Diana withdraws her hand and I immediately look to her, concerned that she's leaving.
A sympathetic smile graces her lips as she traces her hand down my face. "I'm not going anywhere. I'm getting bandages and antiseptic to clean up the cuts on your face and rebandage your burn." I reluctantly nod but keep a close eye on her as she steps away and moves towards the medical bay before returning my attention to an antidote.
"Start a DNA scan. Compare it to my DNA on file in the bat-computer."
"I'll make the preparations." Alfred steps aside to a different, smaller computer.
On the screen in front of me is a refined sample of the drug taken from Officer Montoya after she killed Falcone and beside it is a sample of my DNA before the incident.
A new image pops up on my screen of my current DNA. "It seems that the drug attaches itself to specific proteins in the genome structure." Diana reappears at my side and silently begins tugging at the buttons of my shirt. I sit forward and help her undo the buttons to remove the material. She says nothing as she begins carefully unwrapping my chest and I fight not to shrink away from her. She shouldn't have to do this.
"If we can modify the drug's molecular structure, we should be able to create a counter agent." I reach forward with the hand of my uninjured shoulder and begin to work, hoping to strip the drug of its dangerous quality to make a sequence to help instead.
"Once you've figured this out, we'll have a working antidote," Alfred agrees before excitedly stating, "once finished, we can cure others with the drug!"
"No, I wish it were that easy." I sigh and feel guilt wash over me yet again as Alfred deflates beside me. "This cure is based on my DNA-it'll only work for me. To cure other people we'd have to sample and decode the genome structure for each and every person to make them an antidote." As soon as I've finished speaking, I realize that I've figured out the antidote structure.
I sit back in my chair as Diana finishes re-wrapping my chest, her hands trailing gently over scarred skin.
"I'm so sorry," she whispers and my eyes meet hers, fearful that she's met her end, that she can't do it anymore. "I'm so sorry you have to go through all of this." She tilts her forehead into mine for a moment before pulling back to look deeply into my eyes, hands moving to smooth through my hair and cradle my face. I cover her hands with mine, turning to press kisses to the inside of her palms. "I love you." She whispers to me before leaning back to grab more bandages for my face.
"I love you," I respond and she offers a small smile.
"Sir, the antidote has finished." Alfred steps forward with a loaded syringe, full of a bright turquoise liquid. Diana is the one who reaches out to take it from him.
"It needs to be injected directly into the vein to work." I tell her quietly as she sets down the first aid equipment.
"I don't imagine it'll be much fun," Alfred offers from beside us.
I turn my arm over to give Diana direct access to the crux of my elbow. She says nothing as she reaches for my arm, grabbing ahold of it to hold me steady before injecting the needle and pushing down on the plunger.
Once she's nearly emptied the syringe, the ringing in my ears shrieks to life, as if fighting the antidote before abruptly stopping all together. I release a breath I hadn't realized I'd been holding and open my eyes, also unaware that I'd closed them before releasing my tight grip on the arms of the chair.
The lingering headache and miniscule whining noise has disappeared and as I look at the back of my hands and the insides of my arms, I don't see any of the grotesque blue veins.
"Hopefully that does the trick." Diana sets the syringe aside as her fingers trace the skin around my mouth.
"It'll work, I feel better already." Diana leans away and I roll my shoulders.
"So, what are we going to do now?"
"First things first, I need to know what VIcki-" I cut myself off. She isn't Vicki Vale. Not anymore. "-Lady Arkham has been up to while I've been away. Search for all 'Children of Arkham' recent activity." I request of the computer, numerous results popping up in front of me, such as an article about Vicki missing.
Vicki Vale Missing
Gotham City police now believe that missing Gotham Gazette reporter Vicki Vale may have been kidnapped by the self-proclaimed leader of the Children of Arkham.
In a video statement released late last night on the internet, the mysterious leader claimed to have kidnapped Vale, as well as taking responsibility for a number of criminal acts, including thefts and targeted violence throughout the city.
"Hmph, the press is reporting that Vicki Vale is missing."
"Yes, and obviously, the police have yet to find a body." Alfred scoffs. "That woman! Trying to get the scoop on you, pretending to care! She betrayed you!"
I shrug. "I never trusted her. There was always something….off."
"Your instincts are very rarely wrong, sir." Alfred agrees.
"She was playing me the entire time. She wanted me in Arkham. She wanted me to feel what my father had done to all those people." My gaze moves to the now empty syringe off to the side, sitting beside the memory box containing those theater tickets.
"Bruce," Alfred starts as Diana smooths a hand soothingly through my hair.
"There were bigger plans than me, Alfred." I cut him off. "Batman stopped her at the skyrail station and I can't believe that she isn't finding another way to use the drugs."
"Well, if that's true, she may be more dangerous than ever!"
"I know, I know. I, uh, met someone in Arkham who gave me a tip on how to find her." Diana's hand pauses and Alfred's gaze focuses a little harder on me.
"A tip? Do you really think you can trust someone in Arkham Asylum? No offense intended toward your recent time there, of course."
I scoff. "No, I absolutely don't trust him, the man is psychotic-"
"Wonderful!" Alfred jumps in, as if I were a teenager telling him a classmate had offered me alcohol and I had turned him down. "Let's try to stay clear of him in the future, shall we?"
I ignore him. "He told me, if I want to know what she's planning, I should visit her parents' house."
"If the Vales still live in Gotham, they should be easy enough to locate." I nod in agreement as Diana resumes her motions through my hair, nearly pulling my body into a state of near unconsciousness as the calming-quality of the action soothes me almost to sleep.
The computer beeps as it locates the Vales' residence and I allow Diana to continue for a moment more before standing and approaching the case holding the suit, which has seen better days.
"Bruce," Diana follows me.
"Yeah?"
"Maybe I should come with you."
"No, I can't risk you being exposed to that drug. I don't know how it will react to your meta abilities and that could be catastrophic." She deflates a little but takes a deep breath and nods, understanding my point. "Stay here and help Alfred. I'll be back soon."
"If you do find Vicki, please be careful." She steps forward and kisses me, grabbing on to me tightly as if to keep me from going.
"I will," I mutter against her lips. "I promise." Pressing in for one more kiss, I withdraw and move out of sight to change before getting into the batmobile, sights set on the Vales.
A/N: It's kind of crazy how much some of these themes are currently lining up with WMBH. I hadn't really thought about/realized it till I was writing things for this story that I've been writing for the current arc of WMBH. Crazy.
Also, when Selina was texting Bruce at the beginning of the chapter, Selina is the non-bolded lines and Bruce's response is bolded, if it wasn't obvious.
Thx!
AMM
