Alice started her car and drove out of GCPD headquarters toward her next destination. She wanted to check out if the coffee Sam brought for her had traces of the hallucination serum or not. She couldn't throw away this uneasy feeling about Sam being the traitor, selling information out to the killer or probably he, himself might be the killer. She had to confirm this first. So, she made her way to one of her friend's hospitals where she should be able to run some tests on it without anyone finding out.

After a long drive, she entered a large hospital, "Evening, Johnny," she greeted the receptionist.

"Good evening, ma'am." The male receptionist at the main entrance of the hospital replied to her warmly as she drove into the garage of the hospital and parked. Then she walked toward the entrance of the hospital.

She continued past the main entrance and used her badge to gain access to the labs where the forensic tests were done. It was pretty late, so the lab was pretty much deserted. She walked further inside, toward the office area. She pushed the door open, "Yo, Patrik, still working?"

"Eh!? Goodness, Alice," A white coat male in his forties with glasses looked up at her from his computer in surprise. His long grey hair was tied behind into a messy tail, but there was a bit of a stubble on his face. He wore a white doctor's coat with blue scrubs beneath it, black pants, and comfortable white sneakers, "You almost scared the life out of me."

"What? Watching porn at this age? Does your wife know?" She mocked.

"Shut up," He rubbed his face, "I was just getting this report done."

"Jokes aside. How's she doing?" Alice asked as she pulled a chair beside him and sat, looking at the computer screen. Patrik's sister got into an accident a week ago and suffered a severe brain hemorrhage. As of now, she is under the observation of the doctors. She was placed into an induced coma for a few days and was recently removed.

"Not much change. The good news is the surgery was a success. We were able to remove the clot. But I wish things would have turned out to be like a storybook, where the patients miraculously regain consciousness after surgeries, but sadly... Things don't work that way," He signed, taking off the glasses and placing them on the table.

She placed his palm on his shoulder, "Hey, chin up. She's a fighter. If anyone can make it out, she can."

"You really think so?" he raised his head.

"Positive," She gave a thumb's up, trying to give the man his hopes back. "You know how she boxed even with a sprained leg that day?"

"She wiped the floor with that girl," A slight smile formed on his lips as he remembered that day when she fought her boxing match even though it was a bad sprain.

"Exactly," She continued, "She won because she believed that she could. So, trust her. Have faith that she'll make it through."

"Thanks. I needed that," He closed his eyes and sighed, gathering himself.

"Anytime. Just call or text whenever you want to talk," Alice gently patted his back and gave an affectionate rub on his back for a while.

"So," Patrik gathered himself, "I am guessing this isn't a regular friendly visit?"

"So you have me figured out, huh," She scratched the back of her head, a little embarrassed, "There is indeed a second motive to why I am here." She took out the plastic bag with the coffee and the mug, "Could you run some test for me? Check if there's any foreign substance present in the mug and the contents."

"Ah! Classic way to poison a person, just add a few drops and that's it... Eternal slumber. Now, who in their right mind would want to kill the GCPD's Commissioner?" Patrik raised his eyebrows as he accepted the items.

"I never said anything about someone trying to kill me," She eyed him.

"Yeah, yeah, last time it was a popcorn box."

"Haaa... Very well. I won't deny it then," She placed the plastic on the table. "Just run a scan, please. That would be a great help to my case."

"Alice... You're aware how dangerous this all is, aren't you?" he signed. "Your dad..."

"He was weak," She replied quickly.

Patrik stayed silent.

Alice's dad was working on a missing kid's case but suddenly one day, his own department blacklisted him and tied him to a fake case and a few crimes. She was just 10 or 11 back then, just the thought of seeing her dad hang in his room brought shivers to Alice. She lost her mother last year in a car accident, and now her dad's gone too. Luckily, Alice's grandparents rescued her, and she came to live with them in Metropolis. After that, she pursued the same career as her dad while blaming her dad for being weak for taking the easy way out by hanging. But later the charges were suddenly dropped.

Alice worked hard and finally became the Commissioner of Gotham City's police department at the age of 35. All this time, she didn't spare time with relationships; neither did she get married. To her, career was first, everything else second. Somewhere deep inside, she just wanted to find the people responsible for his father's death and remove the corrupt system that ruined his father's life.

She once asked her grandma what made her dad give up, but she refused to answer her. Instead, she would stay silent, crying or telling her to drop the thought of investigating anything. Later as she grew old enough to handle her own resources, she dug more. What she found shocked her. Her father wasn't a bad cop, nor was he a weak cop. He was a brilliant one, actually. But she couldn't find the files related to her dad's case. It was as if someone had cleaned up everything before she could investigate deeper.

Patrik stood up and took the plastic bag, "I will run some tests." He left the room without any other word.

He knew about her past since they were once neighbors in the same city. He was like an older brother to Alice. Once, he even almost beat up an old creepy stalker who wanted to get married to her. Or that time when that pervert from the training academy groped her during sparring, he took his shotgun and stormed into his room that same night to blast him in his nuts. Obviously, he got jailed for that. Later her instructor got him out, apologizing to them for not catching the pervert early enough.

"Thanks," Alice muttered, lost in thoughts.

While waiting, Alice took out her laptop to browse the internet. She opened the news page. The latest news about VR technology that Wayne Enterprise will soon launch. Something about mind-machine interfacing that will enhance virtual reality games, where it will become real life in a sense. There will be two different tiers, one public, and the other a private server called Premium. Well, most of them were only speculations from the gaming community and not confirmed information from the company yet. But, of course, everyone is excited, and already awaiting its launch.

"Should I get one for her?" She wanted to buy one for Patrik's sister after she woke up. "If the rumors are somewhat true, then, she should be able to box in the virtual reality. Probably," she murmured.

It took thirty minutes for Patrik to get back. He didn't seem too optimistic when he came back and had that tired look on his face, "Well, did you drink it?" He asked her and placed the mug and the plastic bag back on the table.

"Why? What is it?" she tilted her head.

"Don't know. Never seen a chemical like this in my life. From what I can tell is that it can cause serious hallucination to whoever drinks this," He crossed his hands across his chest, and his brows furrowed. "Who gave you this coffee?" He asked, sitting down.

"You think I am gonna tell you? You almost blew up that guy's nuts last time." She shook her head in denial.

"Oh... Come on. He was a pervert," He handed her the report paper with the results.

"And this one tried to do God knows what. I am pretty sure I won't even find his corpse tomorrow if I tell you his name," Alice replied while checking the test result. And just as she thought. It's the same hallucination-inducing chemicals related to the puppet case. 'Got you bastard.'

"Do I look that brutal?"

"Yeah, you are holding an acid bottle behind your back at this moment and thinking about dissolving him alive," She pointed behind him. "Give up. I know you are looking out for me, but this thing... It's dangerous." She took out a vial of antidote that Batman gave her, "Take the antidote, just in case..."

"So, you even got the antidote?" He took it, and Alice nodded.

"The Bat sent this for me," She took her coat, after putting the reports into her bag. She noticed how worried he was, "Hey, I will give you a call if I am in danger, yeah? So, stop worrying too much. I will be fine," She smiled.

Patrik stared at the small bottle.

"Ok," He put the acid bottle down on the desk, "You better take care of yourself, sis."

"I always do. And keep me updated about her health."

"Will do."

Alice left the building, back toward the parking lot. She reached her car and looked back up to the moon while adjusting the tie. It isn't snowing today, only windy. Her breath is visible in the air when she breathes out. She got in the car and drove off toward her apartment.

[Bang!] [Crash!]

Just when Alice entered the inner city, everything turned upside down. Her car flew down the bridge, into the water below. All she heard was a loud crash on her right─ A truck, maybe?

[Activating Nanites] The bracelet on her right arm, that Batman gave her, began to glow.

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Next Chapter: Alice pt2