So, after being given his sack lunch (a step up from the gruel of yesterday), he climbed up into one of the buses. One of the first people he saw was Ruby, and Harvey almost tripped over himself trying to move past her. Other than that, though, the bus was mainly crowded with kids, and he almost felt like he'd gotten onto the wrong one.
But then he saw another familiar face, the kid from a few days back who he'd talked to briefly over breakfast. Peter, his name was. He looked like he was in pain now, and... did he have a cushion for his back? Had he sprained it or something?
However, as Harvey stood there for a few seconds longer, it suddenly clicked in his head. It was hard to tell how tall Peter was when he was sitting, but his build fit the spandex-clad boy he'd partnered up with the night before. He couldn't be sure, but hearing his voice would probably make him certain.
Or maybe the kid would just fess up when he moved over to sit with him. "Hey," he said as he stepped forward, standing in the aisle right next to the kid's seat, "can I join you?" If he was lucky, Peter's reaction would prove his theory right off the bat.
The way Peter's mouth dropped open seemed to be a clincher all on its own, but Harvey knew that he couldn't get ahead of himself. The kid might have just been responding to the sight of him, since his bandaged face wasn't the sort of thing that most teenagers would be able to get used to after just one talk.
Still, there was something there: a familiarity in the boy's eyes that really shouldn't have been there after just one meeting. If this really was Spider-Man's "true identity," so to speak, then it would fit, but Harvey was going to make sure that he covered all his bases.
Either way, Peter was playing it cool for the moment, and yet even the voice seemed to fit with what Harvey had heard last night. The real question was how he had never noticed it before, but the mask the boy wore at night muffled his voice somewhat. He really was thinking about it now as if it was the honest-to-God truth (as if that counted for anything), but...
Well, he was pretty damn sure.
Still, he'd go along with it for now. Nodding, he carefully eased himself into the seat next to the kid, and decided that messing with Peter a bit might be kind of fun. There was nothing better to do while they were stuck on this bus, after all. "Sorry," he said with a grunt. "Got pretty injured last night, so moving around isn't so easy."
So Peter was making a valiant attempt to try and hide his little secret despite the fact that it was staring both of them right in the face. As Harvey took a moment to sit back in the seat, he noticed some bandages right under the back end of the kid's shirt collar. That meant he was already pretty convinced after combining Peter's reaction, voice, and injury.
Still, it would be pretty entertaining if he could catch the kid red-handed, and more than that, he wanted to make sure that he could do it. He was an attorney, after all; his job had been to force people into a position where they could tell nothing but the truth. If he couldn't pull that off with a teenager, then he was definitely out of practice.
Which meant continuing the clueless act for just a little longer. "Not exactly, no. It might have been better if that had been the case." He could definitely handle gashes better than burn, for one thing. He glanced down at his hand, seeing how well it had been wrapped, and nodded to himself.
And then came the moment to pounce. Harvey looked the kid right in the face and then threw out a casual question as the bus roared to life. "How about you? How're you feeling? Those burns looked like they hurt."
Peter would either answer the question automatically and realize his mistake too late, or he'd be so bewildered by being found out that he'd fail at covering it up. Harvey was curious to see which one it would be.
So that was that. The kid's reaction hadn't been quite as interesting as he'd been hoping for, but Harvey realized that he needed to nip any feelings of enjoying other people's pain in the bud. Which he was already a bit late on; he'd killed a few people and enjoyed it, but no one here knew that, and considering he was imprisoned? It was better to keep it that way.
Peter's secret was out of the bag, but at least his was still safe and sound -- and he would be smart enough to keep it that way. Well, unless the coin said something different. Speaking of which, he took a moment to dip his hand into his pocket and check that it was there, even though he'd done so automatically that morning. It was practically an impulse at this point.
However, Peter was now becoming very serious about this whole secret identity thing, and Harvey still couldn't understand. That Bat did it too -- just what did they have to hide? At least he could take pride in the fact that even now, he wasn't in the business of masking his face. The people here made him do it during the day, but that was hardly by choice.
After a pause, Harvey just sighed and shrugged his shoulders, though the resulting pain meant that he certainly wasn't the one with the last laugh. "It's not like I'm shouting it from the rooftops. Just calm down."
Besides, there wasn't much more to discuss about it. Now he knew who was behind the mask, along with both his real name and his code name, so what more was there to ask for? Well, a reason, but he seriously doubted that the kid was going to give him that when he already had his panties in a twist due to being found out.
"Anyway, burn wounds are not exactly something you can hide," he said with a wry smirk. That went for both of them.
It didn't seem like Peter was going to calm down anytime soon, and at this point Harvey was starting to regret that he had even asked. He'd been curious, but if the result was getting lectured by a teenager then maybe it would have been better to remain curious -- or to just keep the information to himself. It wasn't like he'd had to reveal to Peter that he knew his secret.
It was too late now, though, and so the man just sat there, barely holding back a look of annoyance, as Peter continued on with his explanation. The remark about the bullet wound did make him pause for a moment, but he had to assume that it was Peter's choice to put himself into that kind of danger. If that was the case, then he also had to deal with the consequences.
It was becoming pretty clear that this kid was like a miniature Batman, though. He put on the costume back home and got himself in trouble; the only difference was that he was much younger than Gotham's personal vigilante. Harvey was guessing, anyway. From what he'd seen of Batman, the guy was tall and built beneath that black suit. Definitely not a child...
In fact, this all reminded him of the story he'd heard about Robin -- how Batman, at least in some version of Gotham, had taken in some kid and started to train him. Tim Drake was the real name of that pint-sized hero, though, which meant that Peter probably had nothing to do with all of that. (Where had that kid gotten off to, anyway?) Besides, Harvey was pretty certain that if there had been a kid in blue and red spandex running around Gotham, he would have known about it.
Which meant that he had no reason to spill the secret to anyone, especially when Peter was making it clear that for him, it was serious. And Harvey's question of "why" had also been answered in its own way. Peter hid who he was to try and keep the people close to him safe. Harvey hadn't gone down that path, and just what had happened, exactly? A loved one had been targeted, and he hadn't been able to save her. His obsession with being honest with the people of Gotham had just led to the worst possible outcome.
So yeah, maybe he did get it. He tightened his jaw and glanced down at the uneaten bag of food in his lap, knowing that he couldn't speak a word about his own situation. Nor did he want to. Still, a girl -- not just any girl, but Rachael -- had been murdered because of him, too. And this conversation wasn't nearly as entertaining anymore.
"I get it," he said, his voice low. "I won't tell anyone. Don't worry."
It looked like they were going to move past the topic of secret identities and the life of a vigilante, which was really better for Harvey in the long run. The more he thought about Batman, the more years he was likely to shave off his life due to the sheer frustration and anger that it kicked up inside of him. Or that was what he told himself, anyway. Right now all he was really feeling was immense grief and guilt, but he didn't like to think of it that way.
When he was thanked, he shrugged, not wanting to make a big deal out of it. He still didn't understand why someone who had been watching Saturday morning cartoons eight years ago had now decided to risk life and limb while running around a city in spandex, but...
He wasn't going to try and pull it apart anymore. It clearly wasn't doing him much good.
"The other side was tamer," he said after a lengthy pause. He started to sift through the bag of food; the muffin seemed like it might be soft enough for him to eat without too much trouble, but did he really want to go through the painful process of eating solid foods while there was a teenager watching?
"For the sphinx, it was just one room and all we did was work out the riddle. Still, the thing made it pretty clear that if we'd gotten it wrong we would have been mincemeat, so..." It had had the potential to be dangerous, whereas the rooms they'd gone into last night had more or less guaranteed injuries.
"As for that maze, well... we didn't get very far into it, but we were attacked there." And the real fear of a maze was getting lost in it and subsequently starving to death, which they didn't need to worry about here due to the fact that they were magically brought back to their beds whenever night ended. It did cut back on the threat, at least somewhat.
While he would have rather not noticed it, Harvey did end up taking note of the way that the kid eyed his bag of food and the muffin that was resting on top of it. He didn't know if he should take that as a signal to try eating or to just give up then and there, so in the end he simply sighed and looked out the window. He could hardly pretend to be a functioning human at this point, and that was probably what bothered him the most.
He was just as scarred and broken as that damn clown, and the fact that he had to compare any part of him to the freak caused a steady pain to build in his chest. He tried to breathe it out.
But the kid was still talking, and so Harvey tried to regain his focus. He still had some sort of life to live, as ridiculous and dangerous as it was. He didn't know if there was even much of a point left, and yet here he was. "Yeah, we should be on the final stretch now. But seeing how it's a coliseum, you can bet that we'll come out of it even worse off." Maybe the others could handle a few more injuries on top of what they already had, but could he?
He wasn't going to back down now, though. Even if what they saw in that coliseum turned out to be horrific, he didn't want to hear about it second-hand. He didn't have much to lose in the first place, so why not?
Peter's last comment was the one that stood out most in a way, though. Harvey gave a small, mirthless laugh and shook his head. "You just noticed? Nothing has made sense since the day I got here. Anyway, it was as real as you or me. Don't worry, I wouldn't believe it unless I'd seen it with my own eyes."
Though he had to admit, even he was getting more and more willing to accept hearsay here simply because he'd experienced such a large amount of impossible things firsthand. It was kind of depressing, in a way.
While Peter's comment was meant as a joke of sorts, the kid actually brought up a good point. Something sharp would be better to take along if they were going to be up against some mythological creature in a match to the death (he really hoped it wasn't a hydra). The gun was one thing, and he would bring it, but he was actually going to make use of his axe in this coming night. Heavy or not, it would be more useful that that metal pipe was in this case.
"I thought about telling everyone that we're better off taking a night off to rest up, but I doubt they'd go for that." Even though they really did need to lick at their wounds for at least a little longer, he doubted that anyone would have the patience for it after all the effort they'd put in to get those two miniatures.
He had to wonder what weird things the kid had seen that hadn't been at Landel's, but he was guessing he didn't want to know. He'd seen some odd stuff himself, but nothing outside of the realm of believability. The Joker, Batman... they were just nuts. In fact, his own gaping wound of a face was probably the most unreal thing he'd dealt with before this place, which was depressing all on its own.
At that point, though, the bus jolted to a halt as they reached the snow-covered town. It seemed even more like it was out of a movie with this weather, but as much as he didn't want to deal with the cold, he wasn't going to spend the whole day cooped up in the bus. It wasn't even that warm in here, anyway.
"Well, looks like that's it," he said as he stood from his seat and glanced down at the teen. "I'll see you tonight." Whether he wanted to or not, they were going for it.
But then he saw another familiar face, the kid from a few days back who he'd talked to briefly over breakfast. Peter, his name was. He looked like he was in pain now, and... did he have a cushion for his back? Had he sprained it or something?
However, as Harvey stood there for a few seconds longer, it suddenly clicked in his head. It was hard to tell how tall Peter was when he was sitting, but his build fit the spandex-clad boy he'd partnered up with the night before. He couldn't be sure, but hearing his voice would probably make him certain.
Or maybe the kid would just fess up when he moved over to sit with him. "Hey," he said as he stepped forward, standing in the aisle right next to the kid's seat, "can I join you?" If he was lucky, Peter's reaction would prove his theory right off the bat.
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Still, there was something there: a familiarity in the boy's eyes that really shouldn't have been there after just one meeting. If this really was Spider-Man's "true identity," so to speak, then it would fit, but Harvey was going to make sure that he covered all his bases.
Either way, Peter was playing it cool for the moment, and yet even the voice seemed to fit with what Harvey had heard last night. The real question was how he had never noticed it before, but the mask the boy wore at night muffled his voice somewhat. He really was thinking about it now as if it was the honest-to-God truth (as if that counted for anything), but...
Well, he was pretty damn sure.
Still, he'd go along with it for now. Nodding, he carefully eased himself into the seat next to the kid, and decided that messing with Peter a bit might be kind of fun. There was nothing better to do while they were stuck on this bus, after all. "Sorry," he said with a grunt. "Got pretty injured last night, so moving around isn't so easy."
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Still, it would be pretty entertaining if he could catch the kid red-handed, and more than that, he wanted to make sure that he could do it. He was an attorney, after all; his job had been to force people into a position where they could tell nothing but the truth. If he couldn't pull that off with a teenager, then he was definitely out of practice.
Which meant continuing the clueless act for just a little longer. "Not exactly, no. It might have been better if that had been the case." He could definitely handle gashes better than burn, for one thing. He glanced down at his hand, seeing how well it had been wrapped, and nodded to himself.
And then came the moment to pounce. Harvey looked the kid right in the face and then threw out a casual question as the bus roared to life. "How about you? How're you feeling? Those burns looked like they hurt."
Peter would either answer the question automatically and realize his mistake too late, or he'd be so bewildered by being found out that he'd fail at covering it up. Harvey was curious to see which one it would be.
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Peter's secret was out of the bag, but at least his was still safe and sound -- and he would be smart enough to keep it that way. Well, unless the coin said something different. Speaking of which, he took a moment to dip his hand into his pocket and check that it was there, even though he'd done so automatically that morning. It was practically an impulse at this point.
However, Peter was now becoming very serious about this whole secret identity thing, and Harvey still couldn't understand. That Bat did it too -- just what did they have to hide? At least he could take pride in the fact that even now, he wasn't in the business of masking his face. The people here made him do it during the day, but that was hardly by choice.
After a pause, Harvey just sighed and shrugged his shoulders, though the resulting pain meant that he certainly wasn't the one with the last laugh. "It's not like I'm shouting it from the rooftops. Just calm down."
Besides, there wasn't much more to discuss about it. Now he knew who was behind the mask, along with both his real name and his code name, so what more was there to ask for? Well, a reason, but he seriously doubted that the kid was going to give him that when he already had his panties in a twist due to being found out.
"Anyway, burn wounds are not exactly something you can hide," he said with a wry smirk. That went for both of them.
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It was too late now, though, and so the man just sat there, barely holding back a look of annoyance, as Peter continued on with his explanation. The remark about the bullet wound did make him pause for a moment, but he had to assume that it was Peter's choice to put himself into that kind of danger. If that was the case, then he also had to deal with the consequences.
It was becoming pretty clear that this kid was like a miniature Batman, though. He put on the costume back home and got himself in trouble; the only difference was that he was much younger than Gotham's personal vigilante. Harvey was guessing, anyway. From what he'd seen of Batman, the guy was tall and built beneath that black suit. Definitely not a child...
In fact, this all reminded him of the story he'd heard about Robin -- how Batman, at least in some version of Gotham, had taken in some kid and started to train him. Tim Drake was the real name of that pint-sized hero, though, which meant that Peter probably had nothing to do with all of that. (Where had that kid gotten off to, anyway?) Besides, Harvey was pretty certain that if there had been a kid in blue and red spandex running around Gotham, he would have known about it.
Which meant that he had no reason to spill the secret to anyone, especially when Peter was making it clear that for him, it was serious. And Harvey's question of "why" had also been answered in its own way. Peter hid who he was to try and keep the people close to him safe. Harvey hadn't gone down that path, and just what had happened, exactly? A loved one had been targeted, and he hadn't been able to save her. His obsession with being honest with the people of Gotham had just led to the worst possible outcome.
So yeah, maybe he did get it. He tightened his jaw and glanced down at the uneaten bag of food in his lap, knowing that he couldn't speak a word about his own situation. Nor did he want to. Still, a girl -- not just any girl, but Rachael -- had been murdered because of him, too. And this conversation wasn't nearly as entertaining anymore.
"I get it," he said, his voice low. "I won't tell anyone. Don't worry."
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When he was thanked, he shrugged, not wanting to make a big deal out of it. He still didn't understand why someone who had been watching Saturday morning cartoons eight years ago had now decided to risk life and limb while running around a city in spandex, but...
He wasn't going to try and pull it apart anymore. It clearly wasn't doing him much good.
"The other side was tamer," he said after a lengthy pause. He started to sift through the bag of food; the muffin seemed like it might be soft enough for him to eat without too much trouble, but did he really want to go through the painful process of eating solid foods while there was a teenager watching?
"For the sphinx, it was just one room and all we did was work out the riddle. Still, the thing made it pretty clear that if we'd gotten it wrong we would have been mincemeat, so..." It had had the potential to be dangerous, whereas the rooms they'd gone into last night had more or less guaranteed injuries.
"As for that maze, well... we didn't get very far into it, but we were attacked there." And the real fear of a maze was getting lost in it and subsequently starving to death, which they didn't need to worry about here due to the fact that they were magically brought back to their beds whenever night ended. It did cut back on the threat, at least somewhat.
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He was just as scarred and broken as that damn clown, and the fact that he had to compare any part of him to the freak caused a steady pain to build in his chest. He tried to breathe it out.
But the kid was still talking, and so Harvey tried to regain his focus. He still had some sort of life to live, as ridiculous and dangerous as it was. He didn't know if there was even much of a point left, and yet here he was. "Yeah, we should be on the final stretch now. But seeing how it's a coliseum, you can bet that we'll come out of it even worse off." Maybe the others could handle a few more injuries on top of what they already had, but could he?
He wasn't going to back down now, though. Even if what they saw in that coliseum turned out to be horrific, he didn't want to hear about it second-hand. He didn't have much to lose in the first place, so why not?
Peter's last comment was the one that stood out most in a way, though. Harvey gave a small, mirthless laugh and shook his head. "You just noticed? Nothing has made sense since the day I got here. Anyway, it was as real as you or me. Don't worry, I wouldn't believe it unless I'd seen it with my own eyes."
Though he had to admit, even he was getting more and more willing to accept hearsay here simply because he'd experienced such a large amount of impossible things firsthand. It was kind of depressing, in a way.
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"I thought about telling everyone that we're better off taking a night off to rest up, but I doubt they'd go for that." Even though they really did need to lick at their wounds for at least a little longer, he doubted that anyone would have the patience for it after all the effort they'd put in to get those two miniatures.
He had to wonder what weird things the kid had seen that hadn't been at Landel's, but he was guessing he didn't want to know. He'd seen some odd stuff himself, but nothing outside of the realm of believability. The Joker, Batman... they were just nuts. In fact, his own gaping wound of a face was probably the most unreal thing he'd dealt with before this place, which was depressing all on its own.
At that point, though, the bus jolted to a halt as they reached the snow-covered town. It seemed even more like it was out of a movie with this weather, but as much as he didn't want to deal with the cold, he wasn't going to spend the whole day cooped up in the bus. It wasn't even that warm in here, anyway.
"Well, looks like that's it," he said as he stood from his seat and glanced down at the teen. "I'll see you tonight." Whether he wanted to or not, they were going for it.
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