"71 Welling Avenue," repeated Jerome as he stood before a moderately large low rise building with a large two panel door. "Hmm... why would Bobby send me here?"
He'd broken off with the rest of the escaping inmates before the cops had arrived. From there, he'd entered the first vehicle he'd encountered, stationary before a traffic junction. The driver, a short hispanic man, hadn't recognized him. He'd yelled a string of angry words at Jerome before he lost his throat, and rode the rest of the journey in a pool of blood in the passenger's seat. Jerome continued to converse with him - told him all about his friends at Arkham, and all about Bobby. But his travelling companion would only gawk at him with lifeless eyes. So Jerome decided after a while that silence would probably serve them all best.
There was a camera right above the door to 71 Welling Avenue. It turned to look at him, and in turn he looked at the camera. Giving it a friendly wave, together with a large grin on his face, he relished in the attention. "Bobby!" he said to the camera. "How'd you know that I love surprises? I'd have to say that so far, this is a pretty good one. Can't wait to see what you have in store for me!"
He worked the knob on the door, it wasn't locked. It opened up to a large open room, full of barrels. The words 'Indian Hill' printed on the side.
"Jerome Valeska, I presume?"
He realised he wasn't alone. Apparently Bobby had sent friends to his party! On the other side of the room stood Jervis Tetch and Jonathan Crane. He recognized them from having shared the same wing at Arkham.
"Three old friends meet in a room, shall we know the reason for this soon?" Tetch was still in Arkham uniform, though Crane was fully decked out as a living, breathing scarecrow. The folks back at home had decided after a couple of psychological tests that Crane would be a lot more lucid with his attire on, and granted him use of it.
"I was given a note with this address," Jerome responded, holding up the bloodied piece of paper.
Crane raised up his hand with a similar note of his own, and so did Tetch. "Curiouser and curiouser!" Tetch said with glee. "I wonder who's our host, and whether he is close. Three more notes scribbled in ink," he pulled out a note and handed it to Jerome. "Read yours and tell us what you think."
Bobby's surprise kept getting larger and larger, Jerome was most impressed. He accepted his note gratefully, and opened it up. A key fell out and into the palm of his hand. Scribbled on the second note were details on usage of that key to get into the Gotham Broadcasting station. Then instructions on how to tap into live broadcast. He read his note out loud to the other two men.
"My note gives instructions to an underground lab right underneath this place, the chemical composition of the substance in those barrels, and instructions on how to turn them into a gaseous compound," added Crane, tapping the side of one of the metallic kegs.
"I have an address of a hangar in mine," said Tetch. "It says a blimp is what we will find. There is also a date for when all this should be done, all three of us executing our roles on June oh-one."
Jerome giggled in delight. Tetch, Crane and himself were all meant to be parts of some elaborate plan by some insane genius. "Oooh, I love this surprise, don't the two of you?"
"Do you think it's a trap?" asked Crane, and Tetch shot him a look of concern.
"A trap wouldn't be half as fun," he replied. "No my friends, I believe this is the real thing. The question is, why? We can start by finding out what exactly that substance does."
"Oooh, let me search for an unwilling victim," volunteered Tetch, rubbing his palms together. "He will uncover the secrets hidden within."
"I'll open up the lab, get it ready for experimentation," said Crane, pleased about the prospect of having his very own private lab.
"And I..." said Jerome with an ecstatic grin. "I'll hunt down the people responsible for this delight so we can thank them properly."
Harvey's phone had been ringing off the hook till one of the men who'd taken him captive, decided to turn it off completely. He'd been taken into a room behind one of those doors that was visible from the front. The two doors led to a single empty room that had no windows and not even proper flooring, very much unlike the front of the building. Suspended from the ceiling was a single florescent light-bulb that cast long shadows onto the walls. The only thing significant in the room was the large square hatch on the ground, very similar to the hatch that led down to the bunker in the first location. It was all starting to look like a pattern.
His hands were bound behind him, his sides hurt like crazy from the beating he'd taken, and with those two silent men still criss-crossing around him, he didn't see any way to leave. "So... how long do we expect to stay like this?" he asked them, not exactly expecting an answer. "What if I need to get up and pee?" The two men didn't stop, they continued to pace and keep an eye on him. "Yeah... crap..." Harvey grumbled to himself.
It wasn't long till one of those doors opened though - Harvey couldn't say he'd expected to see the man standing behind that door, although by that point, he wasn't particularly surprised.
"Harvey Bullock... how fascinating to find you here. Now what shall I do with you?"
Dr. Hugo Strange shut the door behind him and stepped into the light.
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