Entering the building I was greeted with the reception room. Slightly dim fluorescent lights, a row of six chairs with their backs to the western wall with another row parallel to them with a table in between them featuring magazines and newspapers.
Walking up the table I pick up a newspaper with a bold Arial slogan plastered on it, "The Gotham Gazette?" Featured on its first page was exactly what I would expect it to be. A recent bank robbery near downtown Gotham led to a firefight in which seven officers were shot and two killed in the line of action.
They've also picked up some other stories from neighboring cities with most of them being from Metropolis. I put down the paper and finally realize how empty the front entrance is. Shouldn't there be a receptionist here or something? It was a little weird but I finally decided to head up to the fourth floor using the elevator.
With a loud ding signaling that I had arrived to my floor I began walking out and into the hallway. "huh?" A faint smell of iron hit my nostrils "blood…?" I've always hated the smell of blood and its taste, but that's besides the point. Near the end of the corridor stood an opened door which I guess wasn't anything too particular but I still had to walk past it to get to my apartment next door. And so I began to walk. Closing in on the door I had decided to sneak a peek into my neighbors apartment, in doing so I saw something that made my heart drop and halt me in my steps.
A woman?
There lay a naked woman. To add to the extremity she also had a gaping hole entering from her stomach and exiting from her lower spine; And with it was a pool of blood that was dangerously expanding.
"H-holy shit ma'am are you okay!?" I immediately sprang inside and sat next to her as I checked her complexion. She was pale white. "I'll call someone okay, hang tight please!" I went to grab her phone which was luckily next to her and dialed emergency services.
"Hello? Yes, yes I need an ambulance as fast as you can please! I have a woman with me who's been shot and I think she's experiencing shock. It's at Murciégalo Walls. We're on the 4th floor and have the door open come quick!"
"Come quick dammit" I mutter hoping that they would arrive quickly. There was only so much that applying pressure could do. Sooner or later her blood levels would begin to drop to dangerously low levels.
I'm guessing they had a unit nearby since eight minutes later a couple of guys in blue came running in with a stretcher and a bag of equipment. "Thanks for holding out, we're here now."
I shakily step back and let the men crowd her. "She's already lost a lot of blood. Most likely going through hypovolemic shock. Richard start giving the lady some blood!" The man carrying the bag opens it and takes out a can of oxygen connected to a mask and a bag of blood with a big 'O-' plastered on it.
"Richard" places the mask on the woman and fixes an iv line to her arm connecting it to the bag. The red liquid begins to swim through the line and into her veins.
"Right come on, let's get her out of here quick. And you sir please stay here while an officer comes to ask you some questions thank you!" They place her on the stretcher and push her out and onto the elevator.
I sit down on the couch and try to calm my nerves with some deep breaths. "That…that was Barbara Gordon right?" The auburn-haired woman looked a lot familiar to the female that was featured in the comics I would read. "Then that means the joker is enacting his plan against Batman right now huh? Then commissioner Gordon just got kidnapped and Jason Todd is gonna disappear in a couple of months if memory serves me right."
It's not like I wouldn't want to help stop that from happening, but as it stands I'm a nobody. There's not much I can do. Going from the novel Batman is implied to kill The Joker at the end of it, but then that would mean no Red Hood right? So i'm guessing he allows him to live, for some odd reason.
"Sir"
Damn it this is all too confusing. As much as I hate to say it I'm just gonna have to let things play out for now and see where I am in the story. Or whatever events are happening right now.
"Sir!"
"Hmm?" I look up to see who's shadow is looming over me and see a serious looking man wearing some khakis, and a buttoned up, collared long-sleeve shirt with the words 'GCPD' and 'to protect and serve' embroidered on his left pectoral.
How long was i thinking for? "Yes, sorry about that officer. What can I help with?" I try to stand up, but he motions for me to stay seated.
"It's nothing serious Mister…?"
"Alex, Alex Slaughter"
"Right, Mr. Slaughter May I ask what's your relation to the victim?"
"I'm their next door neighbor, and I'm also a family friend." I lied about that last part. From my memories I never really interacted with the Gordons. I would occasionally wave at them or just give a simple greeting every time we saw each other in the hallway, but definitely wasn't on familiar terms with them.
The officer scribbles something down on his notepad. "Okay, and did you hear or see anything before encountering the victim?"
"N-no I was just arriving from a late night stroll and once I came back home I saw her door open and her laying on the ground.
He writes my statement down again. "Right, I got everything I need from you Mr. Slaughter, thank you for your cooperation".
I finally stand up getting ready to leave back to my apartment. "Can I ask where she got sent? I'd like to visit her when possible."
"Of course, they drove her over to the Gotham General Hospital. I'll put in a word so you they know to expect you".
"That's perfect thank you officer." I walk past the other officers crouching around Barbara's now slightly dry blood puddle and preparing for their investigative forensics team.
Opening my unlocked door I'm greeted by a barren apartment, filled only with the bare essentials needed in order for something to be categorized as a home.
"This is depressing as hell" I step inside the gloomy environment removing my worn-torn clothes coated in both grime and a mix of mine and Barbara's blood into an empty trash can within my small kitchen.
"I look, smell, and feel like shit. I should get in the shower." Walking past the living room that only had a single plastic lawn chair, and a small flat screen TV connected on the ground, I entered the bathroom and finally gave myself a good look in the mirror.
Short, jet-black shaggy hair that was starting to drape my ears; With an equally dark pair of eyes devoid of any light. Under said eyes were some slightly noticeable eye bags, and a soft brown skin complexion adorned with a small stubble of hair growing on my jawline and around my lips.
"I really am just another me" after checking myself out for a bit, I start washing my face and apply shaving cream. Once I'm done doing that, I begin to shave what little of my beard I have for a more clean slate.
Turning on the cold water and entering the shower I watch as the floor beneath me slowly starts to turn red and slightly brown.
"Ah?" That's weird? I could've sworn I had a large gnash on my stomach, yet upon further inspection what I saw was a developing cicatrix.
"It…it healed, and so fast?" Well screw you chapter one version of me looks like I do have some sort of power after all. Although this definitely needs some further experimenting.
After getting out of the shower I change into a pair of shorts and a t-shirt and sit down on my bed with a kitchen knife. "This is just for science. I'm definitely not a masochist". I leave three small cuts on the palm of my hand and watch in awe as I begin to see a thin membrane of tissue start to develop over the openings before any blood can begin to spill. As the process finishes, I'm left with three healed cuts similar to the one on my stomach.
I don't know if it's placebo, but despite looking virtually similar I felt as if these cicatrices were more developed than the one on my stomach. Was I able to heal on command? Or was it autonomous? I cut Myself again and this time tried to think of it not healing, as if understanding my intent the wound remained and blood began to slightly leak.
"Woah!" This was an exciting discovery but I noticed that I was feeling slightly drowsy. Whether it was from today's events or maybe from my "power" doing its course, I set aside the knife on my bed stand and laid down, closing my eyes and letting sleep consume me.
"What a day".