Stitched Together

Chapter Three
Virus

Violet Russ or as the people she knew called her Vi had a very exciting life. Violet worked for a very dangerous man named William Vance. He was a leader of a just as dangerous group of criminals. Violet was the hacker of the group which included four men who were the brawn of the operation. She didn’t exactly like being a criminal but she found it was easier than trying to be normal. Criminals don’t ask question because typically they just don’t care about your past. Violet Russ had a very interesting past life.

After years away she had returned to her home city of Gotham. She was born Allison Anderson who was a girl that murdered her parents and was never seen again. She then lived two years of her life as Katelyn Curt a Psychology student living in New York who murdered her best friend Amy Stuart. Now she was a twenty-one year old hacker named Violet or Vi Russ, and worked for a man that made his money by organizing robberies. He never actually did the robbing himself, he had men for that and he had Violet to take care of the technical aspect of the job. William was not a man to trifle with though. He knew the ways of the criminal world and you defiantly didn’t want to disappoint him.

“Security system is down now.” Violet said into her tiny headset that was stuck in her ear.

“Good, we don’t need some dumb cops ruining our fun. Now come on Vi and get your ass down here and crack this safe.” A gruff, male voice said in her ear. The voice belonged to a man known as Big J but Violet knew that his real name was actually Jimmy Potter. She knew all about the men she worked alongside of. They just didn’t know it.

“I’ll be there.” Violet told him before making her way off the roof where she had hacked into the banks security system from. She stepped into the bank from a back entrance and made her way to the large safe door.

It didn’t take her long to get it open but she could tell the boys were getting impatient. She could hear yelling and gun shots from the lobby a few feet away.

‘Oh that sounds just so much fun. Let’s go join them.' The ever persistent voice in her head insisted. The voice loved the idea of her being a criminal and not trying to be a normal citizen anymore. But the voice hated that Violet refused to be the killer. No, she did all the tech jobs and let the boys have all the fun.

“No, we did our job. It’s time to get out now.” Violet whispered to herself as she packed up her gear in her black messenger bag. She left undetected the same way she came in. She did her best to blend in to the bustling crowd on the streets and went to her usual coffee shop across the street. Mr. Vance insisted she stay near to make sure the job was done successfully.

“Hi, welcome back. Do you want your usual?” The girl behind the counter whose named tag read ‘Penny’ asked her in a very bubbly voice. It made Violet wince for sometimes the girl made her think of Amy. She felt awful about her death. Amy didn’t deserve what the voice did to her.

“Yes please.” Violet answered. She only had to wait a minute before the girl reached her a large, French vanilla latte. After paying by cash and giving Penny a tiny small, she took a seat at one of the small two person tables and gazed out at the streets.

She set there for hours with her chin resting in the palm of her hand just watching the bank across
the street. It was forty five minutes after she set down that the police arrived on the scene. The robbery was done by then and the boys were off with the money to deliver it to Mr. Vance. It took an hour for the police to finish up witness reports and scope the place for any leads. After they were done she noticed a few cops come into the very coffee shop she was setting in to get a caffeine fix before heading back to the police station.

“It seems to be the same group from the last two hey Gordon?” A chubby officer asked the man beside him. The one called Gordon was a middle aged man with light brown hair and a mustache. He was lean built with a pair of glasses resting on his noise. He wore a tired expression. Violet recognized him as one of the cops that answered the call to a couple of her other jobs. He was a good cop. His name was Jim Gordon and he was one of the few good cops left in Gotham.

Violet tried to pull her attention away from him but the voice refused to let her. It had a fascination with Lieutenant Gordon that Violet didn’t quite understand. The voice’s reason was because Gordon was one of the last true good citizens in this city. He had yet to fall into darkness of Gotham.

“Yeah, it does. Whoever is shutting off the security system is good, I’ll give them that. There’s no way to trace them.” Gordon told his partner as they set in the table in front of Violet. She smiled at the compliment.

‘Oh Gordon I do wait for the day we can finally play.’ The voice sighed. 'We'll have so much fun together; like a cat and a mouse.'

‘What are you talking about?’ Violet asked it confused.

‘He’s just too good. I want to show him what real chaos can do. You’re on the right track for it. You’re already a criminal. Soon you’ll be a murder too. It’s how the system works.’ The voice told her.

‘I’m not a murder and I’ll never be one. Not if I have anything to say about it.’ She told the voice confidently.

‘Just keeping thinking that but remember you chose this new criminal life of yours Vi Russ.” The voice teased.

’Yes, I chose it and I can un-choose it.’ Violet thought and she got up from her table and gathered her stuff. She was now determined to change her way of life.

That night Violet did something to change the course of her life forever. From inside her apartment she gathered all the information she could about her boss Mr. Vance and the men that worked for him. She put it all on a disk and even listed the date and place of the next job. The voice tried to warn her that this was going to end badly, very badly for both of them. Violet refused to listen; she was determined to do the right thing. The next day Violet got dressed and walked to Gotham’s Police Station.

“Excuse me,” she said getting the attention of one of the officers at his desk.

“How can I help you lady?” The officer asked her.

“I would like to speak to Lieutenant Gordon please.” She told with a small smile.

“Sorry lady, but he's a little busy. Whatever you need, it can wait,” the officer told her. Violet narrowed her eyes at him.

“What I need cannot wait officer,” Violet told him sternly. Sadly for her Violet was not very intimidating and the voice was being oddly silent. The officer refused to budge on the matter. “Fine, can you just make sure that Lieutenant Gordon gets this. It’s very important.” She told him handing him the disk.

“Yeah, I’ll get it to him. Don’t worry.” The officer promised her. She was still a little wary of the officer’s promise but Violet made her way out of the building.

‘Now we just have to wait and see if it works,’ Violet thought.

‘I don’t know what all this we business is about. I didn’t agree to any of this. This is a step back as far as I’m concerned. You'll regret it in the end.' The voice finally spoke up.

Four days later was the next bank job and Violet sit across the street in a small sandwich shop to watch the action. She hoped Gordon received the disk and came through. Otherwise there will be hell to pay for not showing up for a job. She watched the guys go into the bank thinking she already had hacked the security system. Five minutes later police cars surrounded the bank. She saw Gordon in the mist of all the chaos. It wasn’t long after they went in that she saw all four men of her group being escorted out in handcuffs.

‘Yes, my plan worked!’ Violet celebrated in her head before taking a sip of her latte.

‘Yes, but did you think about what will happen when Mr. Vance finds out what you did. He has connections. Do you honestly think he will go to jail? He’ll know you were the snitch and we’ll pay for it greatly.’ The voice told her.

‘No, you’re wrong. I gave Gordon enough evidence to lock him up. He won’t let me down.’ Violet insisted. The voice didn’t respond.

Two days later she heard nothing from William Vance so she felt safe that he was behind bars. She was extremely wrong. Violet was on her way home from the grocery store when everything went black. When she woke up her head was throbbing and all she could see was darkness. She noticed right away that she was tied down to a chair with her arms behind her back.

She wasn’t sure how long she set there. It could have been hours or just minutes but finally a door opened from the right of her and the lights above her flicked on. She squinted at the new light that filled the empty room. Walking towards her was no other then William Vance. Violet gulped nervously as he now stood in front of her.

“So you think you can get away with spilling our secrets do you? I thought you were a smart girl but I was wrong. Did you think I wouldn’t figure it out? Wouldn’t know who turned us in?” He questioned angrily as he grabbed a hand full of her long blonde hair. Violet screamed as he pulled it. Her scalp felt like it was on fire and she was sure that if he ever let go that strands of her hair would go with him.

“I’m sorry!” Violet cried out in agony.

“Oh, I’m going to make you sorry.” He promised.

‘Please, please voice help me! I don’t know what to do now!’ Violet begged inside her mind. Never had she wanted the voice to speak or take control as much as she did now. The voice didn’t respond. Her mind was silent.

William Vance kept his promise. He made her pay greatly for selling out their secrets. William was a sick man with a sick sense of humor. He wanted to make sure she could never sell anyone out ever again. He started with her mouth which he sewed together with wire so she couldn’t tell anymore secrets. Next was her eyes and then her ears were stitched together. It was absolute agony and it wasn’t long before Violet passed out from the pain.

Her body hurt everywhere but her face felt like it had been scrapped against a brick building. She was lying face down on what she realized to be pavement. It wasn’t long before her brain registered that she was lying face down in an alley. She laid there until she felt the haziness leave and she pushed herself up into a setting position. She quickly deducted that she was in the Narrows the most dangerous part of Gotham. Standing up on unsteady feet she caught her reflection in a closed shop window. As she stared at herself the memories of what happened rushed over her.

Her mouth was still sewn shut from the wire and her ears were still folded over and stitched together but the thread that he used for her eyes had come undone. Apparently he didn’t try very hard to keep them together. She could still see but there was blood incrusted around her eyes and after she removed the broken thread she could see the tiny holes where the thread used to be. Her face was dirty and bleeding. She was almost unrecognizable.

Her head titled as she study herself in the dirty shop window. She touched her mouth gently and she couldn’t wait to make William Vance pay and pay dearly he was. Allison was dead. Katelyn was dead. And Violet was dead. All that existed now was the voice. All that was left was Doll.