Shattered (Black Cat Chronicles, Book Two)

11. Arkham

The processing center for Arkham was a lot quicker than I thought it'd be. After they took my fingerprints, I was taken to a side room to get everything ready for mugshots. My face was wiped clean of any and all makeup, my clothes were taken and I was given undergarments, a white shirt, and an orange jumpsuit. They then led me to take my mugshots, and I was soon thrown into my own cell. There were no real gendered sides of Arkham considering the fact that there were so little women that got sent here, but my cell was still in what was deemed the women's side.

The next morning I was jarred awake by the sound of something hitting metal. I laid on the hard bed, frozen slightly as it took a few seconds to process where I was. As I laid there with my eyes closed, the past night came rushing back to me. Right, I'm in Arkham and I'm British now. Great. "Yeesh, I'm up," I said through a yawn. I sat up to see a woman with a baton resting on the bars of the cell's small window.

"You're going down for a psych eval," she said, bored. Is this really how they treat people here? "C'mon, I don't have all day." I got up and walked towards the door, keeping my hands behind my back.

"Right, so how are we going to do this? Do I get to walk beside you like a normal human?" I asked, cocking my head slightly. The woman shook her head, already looking annoyed with me.

"Not a chance. On the ground, hold your hands out in front of you," she instructed. I followed her orders, figuring it'd be easier to get away with things later if I started out obeying. She came into the cell and handcuffed me, pulling me up and down the hall to wherever this psych eval was going to take place.

"So, can you tell me anything about what's going on?" I asked, looking around. I saw a few familiar faces: Penguin, Scarecrow, Mad Hatter, even Mr. Freeze. It wasn't like they'd recognize me anyway, but I felt somewhat at ease seeing them. I had a generally good working relationship with the villains of Gotham, so I wasn't too worried about them if they were somehow able to recognize me. Well, except for Penguin since he'd tried killing me a few times before, but to be fair I'd also let him get caught by Batman, so I called it even.

"You're going for a psych eval. Once we figure out what's wrong with you, we're putting you on meds and starting your rehabilitation," she replied. It didn't surprise me much since it was honestly to be expected protocol in Arkham. I just knew that I needed to talk to Strange in order to ensure my act would be completely safe. I wouldn't be useful to the Sirens if I was all hyped up on drugs, and getting Strange on my side would be the only way to keep me off of them. "Something must be interesting about you since Professor Strange wants to evaluate you himself."

"Strange?" I asked, trying to contain my excitement. Selina or someone must've talked to him beforehand and told him to keep an eye out for any new arrivals, and that was just going to make my job that much easier, if he was willing to cooperate. If I was being honest here, Strange could either make or break my mission. The guard nodded in response, and the rest of the walk to Strange's office was spent in silence. I kept noticing faces I'd seen either as Black Cat or in the news, and it was odd to know that none of them would be able to tell it was me. However, out of all the faces, I didn't see Joker. I figured that they would keep him separate from the general population, but I just needed to find out where that was. Before I could look further, the guard tugged me into the office.

"Here's the new arrival, Professor Strange," she told him, slightly pushing me forward. Strange looked up from the file on his desk, eyes immediately darting towards my handcuffs.

"Why is she wearing those?" Strange asked, motioning at the handcuffs. The guard seemed surprised by the question and began stuttering out a response before Strange cut her off again. "Don't explain yourself, take them off! We'll discuss this after she's been evaluated." The guard nodded and rushed to take off the handcuffs. I shot her a satisfied smirk, sticking my tongue out at her as left the room.