#lashawna baez

Hugo Strange:  From the patient files of Dr. Hugo Strange, director of Arkham Asylum. Patient: Lashawna Baez, alias Peek-a-Boo. Patient suffers from Major Depressive Disorder and Generalized Anxiety Disorder. Session One. Hello, Miss Baez. How are you doing? 

Peek-a-Boo: Why do you care? I’m a Rogue, remember? Just lock me up and throw away the key. That’s what Keystone did. 

Hugo Strange: I wasn’t aware you were a member of the Rogues, Miss Baez. Your file suggests that you always work alone. 

Peek-a-Boo: Not a Rogue as in the Rogues. A Rogue as in a costumed criminal. 

Hugo Strange: I see. (Pause) I understand that you’re a metahuman, Miss Baez. Would you care to elaborate on that? 

Peek-a-Boo: I can teleport. Unfortunately, every time I do it, it causes a localized explosion. I was hoping to be able to overcome it, and maybe even use it in my career as a doctor, but a year after I entered medical school, dad’s kidneys started to fail. My mom had died of lung cancer when I was six, and I don’t have siblings, so I had to take care of him by myself. After awhile, it became too much for me to balance my classes with taking care of Dad. Dad wanted me to stay in school, because he had been so proud of me for being the first member of our family to go to college, but I couldn’t just leave him alone at home. What if he got really sick when I wasn’t home? So I dropped out. I tried everything to get him a new kidney, but we were poor and black, so we kept getting pushed back on the list. After a couple years, it was pretty clear that dad was never getting his kidney, so I made the really stupid decision to take the kidney by force. I knew that it was wrong, but I convinced myself that I’d been wronged first, and that that justified what I was about to do. The Flash-Wally West, not Barry Allen-stopped me. I’m pretty sure he thought I’d get community service or something, seeing as I didn’t have any previous criminal record, but because I was a metahuman, I got sent to Iron Heights instead. 

Hugo Strange: If that’s the case, Miss Baez, why is your record so extensive? Your files list several thefts prior to your arrest for the attempted kidney theft. 

Peek-a-Boo: That…that was Warden Wolfe. When the Flash learned that I’d been sent to Iron Heights, he tried to get me out, but as soon as I was put into Iron Heights’ system, Wolfe had my records altered so that he could justify keeping me in Iron Heights with the other “metahuman freaks”. Wally’s been trying to prove what he’s done ever since, but it hasn’t done any good. Nobody in power cares about what happens to a metahuman criminal-especially not a poor, black one. I’m just another superpowered thug now. 

Hugo Strange: Mr. Desmond mentioned that metahuman inmates are kept in a separate wing of the prison called the Pipeline. Were you housed there, Miss Baez? 

Peek-a-Boo: Up until I got moved here, yeah. 

Hugo Strange: Mr. Desmond alleged that prisoners in the Pipeline are regularly beaten. Is that accurate, Miss Baez? 

Peek-a-Boo: W-will this interview get back to Warden Wolfe? 

Hugo Strange: I’m going to take that as confirmation that Mr. Desmond’s allegations are true. 

Peek-a-Boo: Don’t say anything, Dr. Strange! If Warden Wolfe finds out that we complained, things’ll get even worse for us when we get sent back to Iron Heights! 

Hugo Strange: Miss Baez, I promise you that I have no intention of ever allowing you to be sent back into the clutches of this Warden Wolfe. What he has done to you in unconscionable. 

Peek-a-Boo: You…you believe me? 

Hugo Strange: Of course I believe you, Miss Baez. For one thing, your records from your time as a medical student were not particularly compatible with the idea of you having multiple previous arrests. And for another, the fact that you managed to escape Iron Heights in order to see your dying father, but did not use your powers to escape in order to free yourself or to commit more crimes also would not make much sense for a habitual offender. For these reasons, I was already skeptical of your criminal record. Hearing your explanation simply reinforced what I suspected from the start. (Pause) And, having interviewed numerous costumed criminals, Miss Baez, I can say with confidence that you do not strike me as the type who is likely to become a habitual offender. You have more than paid your debt to society for your attempted theft of the kidney, and I will do everything in my power to see that you are released from Arkham Aslyum as soon as possible. 

Peek-a-Boo: (Surprised) Really? You will? 

Hugo Strange: I will, Miss Baez. 

Peek-a-Boo: Thank you, Dr. Strange. I…I don’t know how much luck you’ll have, but I appreciate the thought anyway. 

Hugo Strange: You are quite welcome, my dear. (Pause) While you’re here, would you mind answering a few more questions for me? 

Peek-a-Boo: I guess not. What do you want to know? 

Hugo Strange: First, I am curious as to how Roscoe Dillon, one of the most powerful metahumans in the Central/Keystone area, has avoided being locked up in the Pipeline. Mr. Desmond claims that it is because of his known mental illness, but if Warden Wolfe was willing to fudge records to keep you in the Pipeline, I would think he would be even more willing to fudge records in order to keep control over someone who threatened to blow up half the world, while in the grip of a manic episode or otherwise. 

Peek-a-Boo: Actually, the Top hasn’t avoided the Pipeline entirely. 

Hugo Strange: He hasn’t? 

Peek-a-Boo: No. You see, after I had been in Iron Heights for a couple of weeks, Warden Wolfe heard that someone was going to interview me. In the hopes of convincing me not to talk to them, he ordered the Pipeline guards to put me in the cell with “the lunatic”, and they shoved me into a filthy padded cell with a large, muscular man. He had these really unsettling glowing green eyes, and I thought for sure that he would attack me, but he didn’t. Instead, he just looked at me curiously and went back to muttering to himself. Over the next couple of days, his hygiene started deteriorating rapidly…and by the end of the week, he tried to hang himself with his straitjacket. I’m still not really sure how he got it off, but somehow he did, and if I hadn’t called for the guards, he would’ve died. Luckily, one of the guards was Correctional Officer Morrison, who always treated us well. He never participated in the beatings, and he always tried to make sure that we were healthy. When he took the Top to the infirmary and found out about his Bipolar Disorder, he was furious and told Warden Wolfe that if he didn’t move him out of the Pipeline immediately, he would quit. He said that he wasn’t going to be responsible for someone committing suicide. Warden Wolfe got mad, but because Officer Morrison is really good at his job, he had to agree to let the Top go. Officer Morrison tried to help me, too, but because I didn’t have any previously diagnosed mental illnesses, he wasn’t able to get me moved out of the Pipeline. 

Hugo Strange: That sounds as though it would have been incredibly traumatic. 

Peek-a-Boo: It was. I had nightmares about him trying to hang himself for months afterwards. (Pause) And it didn’t exactly help that Warden Wolfe had some of the other guards give me the worst beating of my life a few days afterwards. Apparently, since he hadn’t been able to scare me into agreeing not to be interviewed, he decided to physically prevent me from being able to be interviewed to make sure that I stayed put. 

Hugo Strange: That is despicable. I understand that a warden sometimes needs to be strict in order to maintain order in a prison, but that does not excuse the abuse of prisoners, especially not first-time offenders and the mentally ill. Rest assured that I will do everything in my power to see Warden Wolfe removed from power. 

Peek-a-Boo: Good luck with that. He’s got ties to the D.A. and the mayor’s office. The Flashes, Iris West, Linda Park, and a couple civil rights lawyers have been trying to remove him from power for over two years now, and still haven’t gotten anywhere. It’s hopeless. 

Hugo Strange: (Concerned) Miss Baez, have you had trouble with sleeping or eating recently? 

Peek-a-Boo: Yes. I haven’t slept properly since I was sent to Iron Heights, and I haven’t had much of an appetite since I watched the Top try to kill himself. 

Hugo Strange: Have you had any panic attacks in the last six months, Miss Baez? 

Peek-a-Boo: Except for the nightmares, which mostly stopped a few weeks after that really awful beating, no. My anxiety’s been through the roof since my father first got sick, though. All I can think about some days is about the bad things that could happen to me or to people I care about. 

Hugo Strange: I see. And have you experienced feelings of persistent sadness, worthlessness, or hopelessness? 

Peek-a-Boo: Now that you mention it…yes. I…I haven’t felt happy since my father got sick, and once he passed away….some days I almost wish that I had died, too. (Pause) Sometimes I think that maybe the Top had the right idea when he tried to kill himself. Once a metahuman is convicted of a crime, their life is over. 

Hugo Strange: (Alarmed) Are you planning to kill yourself, Miss Baez? 

Peek-a-Boo: No. I don’t think I could actually go through with something like that. (Pause) It’s just…I don’t see how things will ever get better for me. I know you want to help me, and I really appreciate it, but Warden Wolfe is too powerful. You’ll never be able to get me out of his grasp, and he’ll certainly never let me go. 

Hugo Strange: Miss Baez, I will forge the necessary paperwork needed to have you committed to Arkham Asylum before I will send you back to that sadist. Your Generalized Anxiety Disorder and Major Depressive Disorder have been severely worsened by your stay in Iron Heights, and if you are sent back there, I dread to think what might happened. It was only through your quick thinking and a stroke of good luck that Mr. Dillon was saved from his attempted suicide. Who would save you? 

Peek-a-Boo: I…I really appreciate your concern for me, Dr. Strange. But I don’t want you to get into trouble for me. I’m not worth it. It’s my own fault that I ended up in Iron Heights. 

Hugo Strange: While I don’t disagree that your decision to steal a kidney was reckless and foolhardy, it was also the action of a desparate young woman who wanted to save her father’s life. You would never have become a habitual criminal, and the fact that you were sent to Iron Heights solely because of your metahuman powers was a miscarriage of justice…to say nothing of the abuse you were given once you arrive there. You are not a hardened criminal by any stretch of the imagination, and you do not belong in Iron Heights. 

Peek-a-Boo: That’s what Wally said, too, but even with all his power, he couldn’t get me away from Warden Wolfe. What makes you think you can?
Hugo Strange: Unlike the misguided Mr. West, I am not a vigilante. As such, I have an extensive amount of experience of working within the law, and that experience will allow me to beat Warden Wolfe at his own game. Miss Baez, I swear to you that I will keep you safe and help you recover from your illness. All you need do is trust me. 

Peek-a-Boo: All right, Dr. Strange. I…I trust you.