A Clever Fascination

Chapter 31 - Safety

Kit opened her eyes and felt worse than she ever had in her entire life. The room she was in wasn't familiar but it was a welcome relief from the room she thought she'd wake in. She was lying on a bed, not completely unsure of where she was. Her instincts told her to stand up but the nausea and ache of her body told her other wise. She found the curtains were only half drawn and daylight leaked in to the room, as if intentional.

Voices echoed outside of the door, which probably meant that she was in a big house. Kit pushed herself up off the bed finally, realising she was still in her clothes from the arrest gone wrong, minus her jacket and boots. She managed to walk despite shaking rather violently since the moment she'd come to. In fact, had she not been so determined to figure out where she was, she would probably not have the strength to reach the door. It took Kit longer than it ought to, she watched her trembling hand take hold of the doorknob and then she stepped out.

The voices carried on, now clearly coming from her left, where a door was open only slightly. It wasn't angled well enough that she could see who was in there but Kit had a damn good idea. She knew exactly who she was hearing too.

"-quite reasonable. Then again, he's not immune to a bit of pain, he just acts like he is."

"Yeah, I got that impression just now. Have you told Gordon?"

"Why would I do that?"

"He's tearing up the city looking for her. Penguin got a shiner and fat lip from Harvey Bullock yesterday. You know they're gonna find you eventually."

Kit had wandered in, standing just beyond the doorway so that she had full view of the room and those in it. They didn't notice her right away and continued their conversation, she silently observed because of this. It was weird watching them communicate. Zsasz held zero regard for Ed, that was obvious. They weren't quite comfortable, but they were definitely familiar.

"Katherine."  His voice was one of concern and surprise but that was all she could read.

Edward's attention was suddenly fully on Kit. He had been leaning against a desk on the opposite end of the room to the door, but stood when he noticed her. The look on his face told the woman that he was taken aback by her standing there at all. Obviously he knew she was there so that couldn't have been it. It likely had to do with what he was seeing. Kit hadn't looked at herself in a mirror but she assumed she must've looked as bad, if not worse, as she felt.

The other man in the room was someone that she knew as well.

"Hey Kitty, how ya feeling?"  And even though hearing Zsasz's voice shouldn't have relieved her so much, it did.

"You shouldn't be-" Edward began.

"What happened?" Her voice was rough and sounded more hostile than she intended it to. Yet it was her first time using in since likely screaming so much. Her throat was horse from it.

He sighed and slumped back into his leaning position on the desk. Zsasz glanced at Edward for him to answer her question but Ed was taking his time. He too had the same clothes on as he did in Crane's dreaded lab, his hair still a mess and his tie loose. There was blood on his suit jacket that had dried enough to tell Kit that it had been at least a day since it'd first stained him. Though he seemed to have some kind of bandaging over the wound on his head and another wrapped around his wrist.

"Zsasz, can you give us a minute, please?" That might've been the most polite he'd ever been when addressing the assassin.

"Mhm. Sure can. I'll be downstairs if you guys need me." He shrugged and shuffled towards the door. Just before he passed Kit, Edward called him again.