The Warriors’ banner—black with a central white circle containing the crimson silhouette of a watchful lion—hung from a pole that grew out of a basement-level window. Selina made her way around the ranks of garbage cans to the locked and grated door hidden beneath the steps. A little plastic plaque requested her to look up at the camera after ringing the bell, but aside from the banner there was nothing to tell Selina that this was the button she wanted to push. She was braced for an argument or an apology when the inner door swung open.
“Hi—come in. Don’t you just hate those things?” A woman in her twenties with freckles, green eyes, and reddish-brown hair pointed at the camera. “They make everyone feel like a criminal.” She stood in harm’s way, holding both inner and outer door open. Selina guessed she hadn’t been in Gotham more than a month.
“I disconnected the silly thing when I started working, but they”—she tilted her head toward a Pullman corridor of closed doors leading away from the door—“say it’s for my own good. I’m not in Indiana anymore. I told them: In Indiana we know that locks only keep the honest people out. If I can’t trust the people who come to Wilderness Warriors, then who can I trust in Gotham City? And they said no one.”
Selina wedged into the corridor and got the doors shut behind her. The other woman barely paused for breath as she led the way into the front office.
“What can the Wilderness Warriors do for you today? I’m here all by my lonesome, so I hope it’s not too complicated. Are you a member? Would you like to join? I’ve got copies of our newsletter here—” She reached toward one of several precarious piles on her desk and noticed the videotape sitting atop it. “Would you like to see some amazing footage of eagles? There’s this woman in Alaska who films eagles flocking to fish the salmon run. Eagles, flocking! This is just video; it’s not as sharp as film would be. She’s asking us for money to film it next year. She’s going to need a ton of equipment to do it right, and a ton of money. We’ll probably say no. But this is pretty impressive. There’s a VCR set up in back. I could play it for you. If you want—?”