I knew Batman

Chapter 4 - Visiting Nygma

My meeting point with Batman was a few blocks away from the Gotham City Police Department. The police had their own mourge in their basement, where the victims of violent crimes were investigated and where Ed Nygma worked.

It was autumn and late in the evening, the alley was dark and probably not the safest place in the city when you are alone. But when I arrived, Batman was already there. He stepped out from the shadows as usual.

"I have the microphone and the headset" He started the conversation. It seemed that saying hello is not in his vocabulary.

"Hello to you as well", I mocked him but got no reaction from him.

"You can put them into your ears, they cannot be seen. And this is the microphone, you should put this under your shirt", he explained. Batman very gallantly turned away while I unbuttoned my shirt and fixed the device on my chest.

I had to admit to myself, I was nervous that something bad happens but I was also excited and really curious.

"And remember if anything goes wrong, if you have only the slightest feeling that something is going in the wrong direction... call me. I will be close" Batman emphasized every word. It seemed he didn't like the idea of remaining the observer.

"I will be fine. I can handle this" I tried to say this with the utmost confidence but I wasn't so sure at all.

Batman grappled himself up to the rooftop and I walked in the direction of the Police Department. I checked in with the receptionist officer and signed my name on the visitors' list. It wasn't my first time, I visited my brother John a few times here. I knew where the mourge was. I used one of the elevators to go down. Actually, the whole basement was a mourge but they only used one or two rooms, all the others were in dark, which made the place quite gloomy. The Police Department is also underfinanced in this city, not just the hospitals. And judging from the smell of decay around the morgue, they also save money on cleaning. With a city this big, there should be at least five or six coroners but there were only two: Nygma and his assistant. But at this hour only Nygma was working.

When I opened the door, Nygma was bending over a microscope. He straightened up and turned to me with a strange smile.

"Well-well, Judy Newman. To what do I owe the pleasure to see you? I wouldn't have thought that someone like you would remember someone like me" Nygma said.

I expected this comment of his. We didn't talk during medical school. I didn't hate him, or anything, just we haven't had the same friends. I had to be careful not to be too kind. If I pretended that we were friends, it would be suspicious.

"Hey, Ed. I could say the same, I didn't know that you remember my name." Actually, I was honest. I really didn't know whether or not he remembered me.

"Judy-Judy", Ed shook his head, "being so humble does not suit you. Everyone knew you. You were the best of the class, the smartest, the most talented and even the prettiest. So, it's really a shame what Peter did to you."

That I wasn't expecting. I didn't know that he knew about Peter. It wasn't exactly the happiest story. I heard a growling from Batman in my headset. I tried to turn the conversation into the direction of professional questions before the situation became too personal.

"I'm not here to talk about medical school. I want to ask you for a consult on some autopsy results."

"Why do you need my opinion?"

"You have a good reputation as a coroner. And I don't know what to think about these results."

He seemed to like the compliment. It eased him a bit. He always had his professional pride.