*Malcom POV*
*Location: Gotham City, New Jersey*
*Date: January 15th, 2002*
Slamming my hands against my desk, I felt a tear fall down my face as I got another letter informing me my visitation request was denied. No doubt due to some form of corruption within the police station, although it could've been some other policy as well that I was unaware of.
Either way, it seems my plan of trying to track the Dark Knight and/or have them track me down was...going terribly. I tried to use basic forms of divination magic, but it seems like my removing his protections was having an...adverse side effect, and the images always come out distorted.
Especially when it came to The Dark, The Spiral, The Stranger, and The Lonely, each one provided accidental protection to the man through their meddling alongside a few others. Of course, whenever I tried Harvey Dent or James Gordon, I had a bit clearer picture, but it seems like Harvey Dent was already going down the path of The Spiral, or perhaps The Desolation, both of which would fit with him based on some of his origins.
James Gordon, however, was a fan favorite of The Watcher and The Hunt, albeit the first one having more influence over him. In fact, if I didn't know any better i'd say he was near a full-blown avatar of The Watcher already.
Either way, I'd need to plan my next move more carefully and make sure I got teh attention I actually wanted, rather than a fist to the face. Sure, I was good at magic now, mostly symbology, ritual craft, and elemental stuff, but I wasn't all-knowing.
Containing the artifacts I had so far was difficult to do, and I had to constantly update the sigils involved to make sure the foul energy was contained. So to get the proper attention, I needed a big case, something newsworthy to get batmans attention.
Maybe even Gotham PD, well, the uncorrupted bits of it anyway, which would be a perfect gateway to Batman. However, a case wouldn't drop into my lap; I would need to spread my name a bit further to get the proper attention from high clientele who had a problem the police, detectives, or evne Batman couldn't solve.
That's when I heard a knock at the door, or well, my office door, and I sighed, shaking my head.
"Come in, doors unlocked!"
The doorknob clicked open, and of all the people to come in through that door, this person was the last person I would've expected. It was a school teacher, not an elementary or high school one, but rather a full-blown professor.
She was a beautiful woman of asian descent, I was guessing, wearing a red coat and jeans, with black shoes to match. She had long black hair with a single mole underneath her right eye, of which I couldn't tell if it was natural or a fashion choice. She looked around, probably a bit disgusted at the sight of my office, which I still needed to do a deep clean of. Ialos noticed how she wore one of those standard university white lab coats, probably taking a detour on her way home to come here.
Then her eyes lay upon me, and my bandages, and the strange symbols drawn upon them, and her eyes widened a bit, surprised at my appearance. She stood there staring for a few moments before finally speaking, with a low, shy tone to her voice.
"Oh i'm so sorry for staring, I-I just didn't expect um...someone well-" I held my hand up, stopping her and motioning her to come inside and sit down.
"Trust me, I understand, so just sit down and tell me what you came here for, Mrs...?" I said getting a better look at her, and could now tell she was definitely of asian descent and in her early thirties, I think.
"Henriette Valentine, and well I know this is goign to sound strange, but I work at Gotham University in the biology department."
"I teach introductory Biology and usually have really large classes with teh occasional dropout due to one reason or another."
"But lately, more students have been going missing, not dropping out of my class or the university in general, but lately several students have gone missing."
Leaning back in my chair, it was definitely strange, but in all honesty, not as unusual as she was making it sound. Could be that they were just having a bad year when it came to keeping students, or a bad year for the students in general. It was Gotham after all, they could have been having gang problems, financial problems, or well, they could've been murdered.
"I understand that it seems unusual, but I don't see how-" She interrupted me before I could finish.
"Sorry, I wasn't done yet, you see they eventually came back, which also isn't weird because sometimes students have family stuff going on and need to take the day off."
"Only...Only when I saw them again, something, something didn't feel right about them, they looked too...perfect is the only word for it."
"To the point it was far too uncanny and as if I were looking at another human being entirely."
So, and I'm not proud of this, I followed them one day after classes were done for the day, and well i'll just let this photo speak for itself." She said, handing me an odd photograph of an alleyway.
Taking the photo out of her hand, I took the chance to examine it further on the off chance that this was perhaps the workings of The Stranger. Based on her story, it sounded like them, or at least the being had a part in this event. The person in the photo was a young man in his early twenties, possibly twenty-one or twenty-two, based on it. He was wearing dark blue jeans with a few holes in them around his kneecaps, with a red shirt to match. He was also carrying an old-looking computer bag and nothing more.
The more I looked at the photo, the odder his face started to appear each time I did. Eventually, I started noticing that his face was starting to look more stretched out, almost like the skin was improperly put on. Then there was the fact that underneath his shirt, around the neck area, were stitches.
"tel neddih sehturt eb nees!" I shouted as a flurry of mystical symbols appeared all over the photograph. Henriette nearly jumped out of her chair suprised, probably because the magical private *unlicensed* detective agency was legit after all. Meaning I was her last resort, and this had been going on for quite some time, maybe even before Wallace came to me.
Once the magic was done, I was finally able to get a good look at teh figure, and while they kept the proportions of the student. The thing in the image had clearly changed, probably hidden due to whatever being had connections to The Stranger, although I wasn't crossing out The Flesh either.
It had the same skin color, only with dozens more stiches then before and a wide, uncanny permanent smile on its face. The thing in question was also staring at the camera this time, whereas before they were facing away from it, uncaring. Meaning they had some ability from The Spiral, perhaps to hide their true appearance, or perhaps The Lonely. Hard to tell with these things sometimes, as they had a lot of overlap when it came to fears or abilties.
"Well, Mrs. Valentine, you came to the right person for the job, this thing that's been impersonating your students."
"Or, well, rather, your former students are probably hunting around the school, dragging more bodies to whoever created them."
"For what purpose...I honestly couldn't tell you; it could be for sick pleasure, experimentation, or any number of things. I just don't have enough information."
"What I do know, however, is that if multiple students are disappearing, well take a look at this." I said, handing the now modified photograph to her, allowing her to take a look.
Her face went from one of confusion to horror quickly as she realized the creature she thought she followed unnoticed knew she was there the entire time. In fact, it had allowed her to take a photo of it to savor the fear all the more when it eventually caught...her.
Acting quickly, I pushed her out of the way of the door as it burst open; the same creature from the photo forced its way in, with a cruel smile on its face. I realized too late that the damn thing followed her here, probably thinking she entered an abandoned building or something, so naturally it came in to abduct her.
Probably the same thing its fellow copycat students did to others whenever they got a bit too close to the truth, or when their master needed another body. It looked at me as its expression switched to one of confusion before charging forward with its hands outstretched, probably expecting easy prey.
Grabbing a piece of floorboard, I sidestepped teh beast as it flipped the table over and tried to grab me. Activating the strength-enhancing symbols, I leaned my hands back and jammed the piece of wood right into its side, right between the ribs. The creature screamed in pain as it slammed its arm into me, pushing me to the back wall as Henritte screamed, ducking for cover underneath a piece of old furniture I hadn't gotten rid of yet.
Groaning in pain, I slowly got up as the creature grabbed me by the throat and began choking me. I could see directly into its eyes, and I instantly knew that whatever being did this had killed the student and was simply piloting the body like a meat puppet or something like that. I immediately grabbed his arms, and while whatever modifications happened to this body, including strength enhancement, it wasn't at superhuman levels.
So, grabbing its wrist, I began to slowly twist it backward, breaking the thing's hands as it screamed out in pain, and a black liquid began pouring out of it. Dropping to the ground, I grabbed the piece of wound and twisted it, carving a hole in the creature's side, revealing a whole assortment of strange and inhuman organs.
Clenching its stomach, it fell to its knees, staring at me with hatred and malice in its eyes as I took a few steps back, not giving it a chance to retaliate. Winding my fist back, I sent a mean right hook directly to its face, knocking them back and giving peace to the college student's soul, well, if he hadn't already passed on that is.
"Well, Mrs. Valentine, if we can get my fee sorted out, I'll begin the investigation in earnest." I said, wiping off the blood and dusting off my trench coat.