Chapter Text
The first few days in Arkham were surprisingly quiet.
After 2 sessions with Dr. Esha, Casey had expressed his desire to remain in solitary confinement for the time being, and thanks to the focused efforts of his psychiatrist that request was being honored.
Despite all the suspicion and the overly cautious way that he was being treated, his talks with Dr. Esha were actually yielding some positive results for him: unexpected moments of silence and the 'clarity' she had mentioned were allowing him to reflect at length on his actions up to this point.
However, he didn't think it important to address how he felt about his choices...since he had already gone way past the point of no return.
His time to meditate on his cot was interrupted by a guard knocking on his door, "Up and at 'em, Casey. You've got a visitor. Let's get going." The guard informed him.
"A visitor...?" Casey sat up with a worried expression.
There were no instructions in his plans for anyone to come and see him, which meant that this was something organic and unexpected. As he stood up and allowed his hands to be restrained by the guard, he couldn't help but feel some rising nerves.
Who would come to see him here of all places?
Casey was led into the visiting area, which was comprised of a series of stalls with chairs set up in front of glass windows. He recognized these kinds of rooms from old TV shows. The guard removed his restraints and gestured for him to sit at the stall marked with the number 3.
When he sat down at the chair, he saw Selina Kyle waiting for him on the other side.
Before either of them reached to grab the phones they would use to speak to each other through the glass, they were already analyzing each other. Casey was unable to hide his surprise at seeing her, so Selina already knew that he had no idea what she was there for.
On the other hand, Casey had only seen Selina's entire face once before, so it took him a moment to recognize her. Once he'd gotten over the shock of that revelation, he was able to see that there were flickers of anger in her eyes that she was hiding behind her poker face.
"This can't be good." Casey thought to himself as he grabbed his phone and held it up to his ear.
"Well well, look what the cat dragged in." Selina said smoothly after bringing the phone up to her ear.
"Couldn't help yourself with that one, could you?" Casey scoffed, amused by her cheeky greeting.
"The opportunity was there. I couldn't let it pass." She admitted with a faint smile.
"I'm surprised to see you here," He said, leaning towards the glass a little. "From what I know, you've been on this side of the glass before, haven't you?" He inquired.
"Many, many times. They've all been unpleasant." Selina answered, her slight smirk dropping.
"Yeah, the food here kinda sucks." Casey joked.
"Agreed."
"I'm assuming you didn't just come here to see how I'm doing then, right?" He guessed.
"You don't take me as being that heartless, do you? Although I am quite upset." She brought up.
"That so?" Casey raised an eyebrow at her, "What happened?"
"You did...you didn't tell me about your plan to get back at Batman." She said. Casey tilted his head and looked over her face again. He wasn't surprised to hear that she wasn't happy about this, but he also found it ironic that she hadn't expected it.
"You really think I wouldn't want to get back at him too? The reason I'm like this is because he didn't save me." He pointed out.
"He couldn't get to you in time. And I don't know how much it means to you but he has told me that he deeply regrets that." She informed him.
"Doesn't change the results, does it?" He argued stubbornly.
"No. But if I had known, I would have tried to talk some sense into you." She countered.
"If I had told you then you wouldn't have agreed to help." He pointed out.
Selina paused for a moment. She shook her head and let out a sigh, "Unbelievable." She muttered under her breath while rolling her eyes.
"What? You still would've helped?" He asked in disbelief.
Selina didn't answer him verbally. She just glared at him through the glass, her gaze never faltering. His eyebrows slowly furrowed as he realized what she was implying. He let out a sigh and looked down. He brushed his hand back through his hair.
"You still would've helped." He realized.
"If it didn't hurt him...physically." She confirmed.
"Physically, she says." Casey muttered. Selina shook her head and sighed again.
"I do not like being taken advantage of, Casey. I hate it...and I can't forgive you for that." She said seriously.
"Hm," He hummed briefly to acknowledge her statement before looking back up at her again. "I just want him to pay for what he let happen to me, Selina. Do you at least understand that?" He asked.
"Of course I do. But I already told you how he feels and you still want to add to his pain. Is this really the only option?" She argued back as calmly as she could manage.
"What about what I feel, huh?" He said, throwing a hand up in frustration. He scooted his chair up closer to the glass and rested his palm against it. "What about you and me?" He asked.
"You and me?" Selina asked in surprise. This managed to throw her off. She didn't completely turn away from him, but her eyes skewed off to the side a little bit. "What do you mean?"
"You know what I mean. The little talks, the texts, the emojis, those moments with Cleo? I didn't say anything about it because we were focused on work, but I've seen what you meant when you said you have a soft spot for strays." He said earnestly.
"Casey..." Selina exhaled quietly.
"Look at me, Selina," He urged her gently.
He waited until her eyes met his again then continued.
"Your heart belongs to that complicated relationship with Batman. I know that already...but you can't deny that there's some chemistry between us - whatever name you want to give it." He insisted.
"And? What if I admit that...maybe...there is some chemistry?" She asked hypothetically.
"Mhm?" Casey hummed inquisitively, urging for her to continue that line of thought.
Selina shook her head, "Even if I did, I have many things to deal with right now." She dismissed it with a frown on her face.
"And if you didn't?" He pushed the subject more.
"Then that would open up questions, some of which I don't think you're prepared to answer."
"Such as?" Casey raised his eyebrow again.
"Who's Julie?" Selina asked.
Casey's face dropped momentarily. His eyes opened up then narrowed on her. Just hearing the name triggered a hot wave of irritation within him as well as an urge to spit on the ground.
"What's the name again?" He asked.
"Julie Sterns. Batman thinks that you might be involved in her murder," Selina said, dropping her voice down and speaking seriously. "Her stolen car was found with the back end smashed against an abandoned building. She was shot 6 times and left there in the trunk." She described.
"Talk about a rough ride," Casey said with a sly sideways grin. "I had an ex-girlfriend with that name once. That was a couple years before I met Harley." He brought that up as if it was a fun fact.
"An ex? Wait, what is this? Casey, did you really do it?!" Her eyes widened.
"Do what? Have an ex-girlfriend? Yeah, unfortunately." He responded with a joke.
"You know what I mean! Did you kill her...?" Selina took in a shallow breath as another realization hit her in that moment, "That's your plan, isn't it? You want revenge by killing Joker and killing Batman?" She asked.
"Won't that be great?" Casey asked, his grin growing wider.
"You sound just like the Joker right now," She said bitterly. "This conversation is over."
"Wait wait! One more thing, Selina, before you go. Hear me out." He urged her to stay just a little longer.
"What?" She coldly asked.
"If...if Batman really does feel guilty about what happened, and if he has questions about that Julie girl, why don't you send him over to come and see me himself?" He suggested with a smile, not even bothering to hide the sinister intent in his voice now.
"Tch! I'm done. Our partnership is over. This is goodbye, Casey. And this will be the last time you'll see me." Selina decided, slamming the phone down and storming away from the table. Casey smirked as he watched her walk away.
"See ya 'round." He said in a low voice...