Profession

Expect the unexpected

Grandpa Xander's text was brief, just that there was no communication signal from either Grandpa Bruce, Pete, or Nick, and that I was to get out of the asylum and avoid the tunnel at all costs. Well, I couldn't just tell my boss that I was leaving halfway through a shift, not without a good reason, and there was no way I could tell her the truth. I checked the time: 3:22 am. Grandpa Bruce said that Batman could get in easily through a guard post at 3:29 am. I went on to the messages. Jinx said that the termite cams had caught the people in the chair room dragging in Batman, Nightwing, and  Nightfall; they'd encircled them and it looked like they'd beat the hell out of them. I immediately texted this information to Grandpa Xander and listened to Grandpa Damian's message. He reported that Grandpa Bruce hadn't been back to his home, per Grandma, or to the batcave, and Pete and Nick were also MIA. He'd brought Xander into the loop, and the computers in the batcave showed that they'd located the two secret rooms in the tunnel and that their signals were still in the vicinity. "Under no circumstances are you to go into that tunnel, Lys," he said. "We're working on a plan." As a matter of course, I deleted all these sensitive messages and activated a little program to overwrite the sections where messages were stored so that they couldn't be retrieved. It wasn't unheard of for unscrupulous people to steal communicators and look for sensitive or compromising material that they could be blackmailed for.  And if I had to talk to the cops for any reason, I didn't want to have to explain those communications.

There was no need for the Grandpas to tell me to avoid the tunnel. If three grown crime-fighters were taken down, one adult woman armed only with dirty tricks, a happy spray, and a nurse's uniform really wouldn't have a chance, and would make matters worse when I was caught. I ate my lunch and absently took part in the staff room chatter, taking a second small slice of birthday cake. It was good for storebought, although the frosting was kind of greasy and tasteless. I'd learned from my first slice and had taken cake that didn't have a frosted edge. People were talking about work things, and Cathleen came over for a chat about our insomniac's behavior.

"He sees Dr Strange for his regularly scheduled appointment," she said. "I'll be sure to let him know what happened. And you've seen that he's sleeping a little more?"

I nodded. "The past couple nights. At least, he's curled up on the bed and it looks like he's sleeping. He's facing the wall, so we can't see unless we enter the cell, and my partner feel like if he's sleeping, we shouldn't wake him. At least he's resting if not actually sleeping. It's unsettling when he just stared out into the hall at you." Cathleen smiled slightly.

"Creepy's kind of business as usual here," she said, and I returned her smile. "Next year, after the new addition is complete, they're going to upgrade the plumbing and electrical, so the dripping water that is oh-so-atmospheric will be taken care of, and we'll get more modern lighting. I hate the buzzing of the fixtures."  She moved on to talk to other staff members; what I really liked about working at the asylum is that the heads of shift always circulated when most people had their lunches and made sure to talk to everybody at least once a week, on top of whatever other work concerns you had. This was more social, addressing general concerns too. I got up to compost my sandwich wrapper and debated another cup of coffee. I still had a couple more hours on the shift, then I wanted to see about family matters after work, so I poured another cup of high-octane, adding raw sugar and half and half. I hated the fake creamer. 

I sat down again with some other nurses who wanted to know when my contract was up. "Two more days," I said. "I'm both looking forward to the end of it and not. "

"Do you think you'd come back?" one of them asked.

"I might, I really feel like I'm useful here rather than just taking vitals at a GP. But I have other things I need to do too." The woman nodded and was about to speak when the power went out. "Crap," I said. People chuckled but there wasn't a fuss.