One Winter Knight | Arkhamverse

Chapter 2: Thin Ice

"The world suffers a lot. Not because of the violence of bad people, but because of the silence of good people." ~Napoleon

          Eve swiftly leaps down with the poise of a gazelle from where she stood on the dumpster, having set up the last of her trusty security footage. All over town, she spent the last three long days wiring up cameras and microphones outside any mob owned business she knew of that was also safe enough to do so. From every safe house, bar and business front to every restaurant, casino and dock on record.

          She's never been one for self-appraisal, but Eve can't repress the self-satisfied flare that surges through her at the current moment.

          It's an adrenaline rush working such a treacherous case, she can't deny that. She's not in it for an adrenalin fix though, or for the rush of admiration and appreciation she could possibly receive if her identity and involvement was brought to light. No, the bigger reason she's partaking in this jeopardous endeavour is for the safety of those who don't deserve to be caught in the crossfire. A smaller part of her, a selfish part of her, may be doing it out of her own damn curiosity, but that's all that it is. Small.

          Pulling the familiar fabric of her trench coat sleeve up, she analyses her wrist, checking the time on her white and gold Michael Kors watch. 1:24am. It's that late? She rhetorically asks herself, blinking back her bewilderment at how the time flew. It was worth it in her opinion, that was the final camera after all.

          Eve manages to hail a taxi before the daunting, edgy man with premature yellow teeth who was a few meters off decidedly gets too close. And before the raucous gang of typical Gotham street thugs takes too much of an interest in her.

          By the time she returns to her apartment, it's near two o'clock. Brains need sleep; she firmly chastises herself as she slides the rusty, worn key into her threadbare door. This case will be the death of you Evangeline Mendax Winter.

          She felt it the moment she walked in that front door.

          Eve soundlessly closes the door behind her, refusing to even budge towards the light switch. Her entire apartment is bathed in shadows, the few run of the mill windows towards the back of the main room sucking all the lights the city offers and trying to spread them amongst the darkness. Eve knows her apartment. She knows every crack, crevasse, book, dust ball, splinter and corner down to the last millimetre. She knows how the shadows cast over the rooms like a tsunami of darkness. She knows how the very air sits, swarms and convulses in every damn room.

          So she knew, the moment she walked in that front door, that something was off.

          Her back presses into her own front door, similar to how it was twelve days ago in that monumental alleyway. Her eyes devour every inch of the room, surveying for the probable threat. Before she's even permitted a chance to deduct a conclusion or a plan of action, it speaks.

          "Miss Winter."

           Instead of jumping up to her throat, Eve's heart plummets several stories downwards to the ground floor, her breath along with it. She didn't see him at first, but now he's unmistakeable. Even the air stills in his presence. The imposing, looming wall of darkness that manoeuvres to stand more prominently in what little light there is, creating a silhouette of the shape. He looks like the Grim Reaper, and besides the simple movement to make himself more noticeable, he doesn't move an inch. Eve can't even see him breathing.

          "I had a feeling Jim let you off your leash to spy on me," Eve barely manages to push out, miraculously subduing the initial quiver in her tone. "Here to warn me how dangerous this truly is? Or did you stop by for a cup of tea?"