The Hero, The Cop, And The Lantern

First Day as Detective Stone (Dani Chapter 1)

Just like anyone could expect my first day working as a detective for the GCPD was interesting. I was on my way to what I thought would be a 'normal' bank robbery, that was my first mistake. Nothing that happens in Gotham is ever 'normal.'

When I pulled onto the scene with my partner, James Gordon, I was surprised to see that the people involved weren't wearing anything to cover their faces, it was like they didn't even care that they were committing a crime, but that wasn't the weirdest part. When they saw the cops show up, they didn't try to run or anything. They just let us haul them in to the station. Talk about bizarre.

After we placed them all in a cell and got started with the interrogations we noticed something else was going on. They all looked as if they didn't remember what had happened. They had a hazed, glassy look that seemed to be compelling them to do whatever someone else wanted.

"Detective!" I heard a voice yell pulling me from my thoughts. I looked up to see my partner looking at me.

"Sorry, what did you say?" I asked shaking the rest of my confusion away.

"I asked if you would like to come get a drink with me. You know, help me get to know my new partner."

"Oh, um, sure. I don't see why not."

We went to the bar and James automatically ordered us drinks.

"So, Danielle, tell me something about yourself, anything." He said.

"First of all, you can call me Dani. I never liked my full name." I said and he nodded.

"Good to know, and you can call me Jim."

"Okay."

"Tell me, why did you become a detective?" He asked curiously.

"Well, I always knew that I wanted to keep people safe, and this seemed like the best way to do it." I said simply.

"Very inspiring." He said. "Now, tell me the real reason."

I let out a small chuckle. "What makes you think I have an alterrior motive?"

"For starters, a nice girl like you doesn't just decide to put her life on the line for strangers. This is a very dangerous line of work, especially in Gotham."

"True. I guess you caught me. But you should know, I'm not that nice. I decided to become a detective because I'm what you might call the reckless person in my family. I wanted to do something dangerous but also helpful, and what fits that description better than being a police officer in Gotham?"

"You know, being reckless isn't necessarily a good thing."

"I know, but it keeps life interesting. I was raised in a very formal setting so naturally I kind of steered away from that kind of behavior."

"Why were you raised in a formal setting? There aren't that many formal places in Gotham."

"Well, my sister and I were raised in Wayne Manor by our uncle."

"You have a sister?"

"I do, and you probably know her or at the very least her name." He gave me a curious look. "Sybil Stone." Recognition laces his features. So he does know who my sister is. "Yes, my sister is a famous author, go ahead a gush about it like everyone else does when they find out." I said crossing my arms and feeling a little immature for a moment.

"I wasn't going to 'gush' over that. Don't get me wrong, I am a fan of your sister's work, but the whole point of our drinks tonight is for me to get to know my new partner." I couldn't help but smile.

"Thank you Jim."

"No problem. I can only imagine how it feels for people to know me because I have a successful family member."

"I mean, I love my sister, she's my best friend, but I'm tired of people using me to try to get to her, you know? It just makes me feel like I don't matter."

"Don't ever think you don't matter. Everyone matters, that's why it's our job to keep everyone safe."

"Well said comrade." We sat in silence for a few minutes when a thought came into my head. "So Jim, what is our plan of attack for this robbery? I mean today was weird right?"

"Yes, what happened today was weird but you're going to have to get used to weird if you want to make it the GCPD."

"I think you forget Jim, I was raised in Gotham. I'm used too weird. It's just that, I've followed all of your cases since I decided to become an officer, and none of them had ever been like that."

"How old were you when you decided that you wanted to be a detective?" He seemed impressed that I followed his cases.

"There is something you need to understand about me Jim. I see my entire family as heros. Alfred took me and my sister in and raised us as his own after our parents died. Sybil is an extremely successful author and works for S.T A.R. Labs in Central City, and on top of all of that, she still has time to be the best sister in the world. I may have been too young to remember my parents but everything that Sybil and Alfred have told me prove that they were good people who we're killed too soon, so I guess I've always known."

"Now you can join your family of heros. Even though I'm sure they already consider you a hero."

"Thanks Jim." I looked down at my watch and realized it was almost 11:30. "I better get going. I'll see you at work tomorrow."

"Alright have a good night Dani."

"You too Jim."