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The Silhouette and The Forge
Interlude 3
Stepping out of his police car, Commissioner James ‘Jim’ Gordon put his hand in his pocket reaching for nothing grimacing. Remembering that he is yet again trying to stop smoking.
Barbara would rip his head off if she saw him do what he just did. Despite still being in grade school she was rather vocal about his unhealthy habits.
Sighing to himself. Yet another abysmal day in Gotham he thinks to himself shutting the car door, Harvey Bullock pulls his weight out of the car with a toothpick in his mouth.
“This the place Comish’?” He says plucking out a piece of a burger he had just eaten. Despite what most people thought of Harvey at first glance, he was the farthest thing from corrupt in this city.
Jim wouldn’t deny that if he and Harvey were stationed in other cities they would have had protests against them with the methods they have used here.
But Gotham is not like other cities.
He learned that the hard way when he first came to this city after seeing too many incidents where the soft approach didn’t work he was forced to do it the hard way.
Going back to his original point, Harvey despite how his appearance would suggest otherwise was a good cop. He may be messy, a bit of a slob, but when the chips were down and it was do or die time Harvey would always have his and the rest of the city’s back when they needed him most.
Right now being just another form of proof that despite Harvey being petrified of the Court is still here with James making sure he was safe and had someone who would watch his back.
Gordon walked forward in his office shirt with a tie as he loosened it, feeling it chafe against his neck. His suspenders hanging off his shoulders feeling the chill of the night that he found preferable over the heat of the day.
Glancing over seeing the downtrodden area of Gotham's old town he is reminded of the decay that has gripped the city. He had grown spoiled by that new company that had done a marvelous job of cleaning up and repairing much of Gotham.
He was still suspicious of them since this place tended to take something seemingly good only to make you reel back in horror.
Both of them walked closer to the old clock tower. A stray thought goes through his head of how he and his family, particularly Barbara, had wanted to go and explore it on a tour. In all the years they had been here he had yet to ever go see any of the city’s landmarks for a variety of reasons.
Steps coming closer to them from an alley have them placing their hands around their firearms making himself and Bullock tense. The steps near and they prepared themselves if this was a trap.
They pause before slightly relaxing when four people come out of the alley. One of them was a skinny nondescript caucasian man. Baggy loose-fitting jeans with simple off-brand sneakers and a blue shirt with a black hoodie over it.
By his side is a woman in close-fitting clothes with her hair done up in an afro chewing gum. Small jean shorts with a lime green shirt and a logo for a girl band named the Gotham Sirens. He recognized both of them after a meeting he had some time ago with the Gotham PD after that cursed night.
John and Shalice. Both heads of the Alliance. The people beside them must be added muscle in case things go wrong with one being a man with numerous tattoos along his arms and neck as he glared at them.
The other a woman like Shalice who despite wearing plenty of clothes may as well be wearing nothing at all with a country girl aesthetic.
Both of whom have hefty firearms on them. The man was equipped with a sawed-off pump action held at his side and the woman two revolver magnums in holsters.
“This is the place, Bullock. Are you expecting company or are those for us?” He says, stepping forward. John undeterred came closer and with a gesture made the man beside him who narrowed his eyes relax at James’ comment.
“Preferably for the Court. Just in case. Everyone relax, I think I can speak for all of us that none of us wants to be fighting one another when the Court is looming over this city.” He said looking all around at everyone with a questioning expression.
Everyone including Havey and Jim nodded, relaxing enough to take their hands off their weapons.
“So you're Commissioner Gordon and Detective Bullock… I expected you guys to be taller.” John says to them as his companions do a double-take, eyes widening before stopping and just looking at him.
Harvey shakes his head chuckling at the comment, “Kid that is the first and probably only time I will ever hear anyone have any high expectations of me. What were you expecting?”
John and Shalice lead the way with their two guards staying beside them as Harvey and James followed.
“Considering you two have survived where most people had died against some pretty stacked odds I was expecting some old school looking barbarians or something.”
This got a laugh out of his companions as the man slapped his knee with a guffaw and the cowgirl smirked and shook her head.
“John, just cause they survived some of the worst Gotham had to throw at them doesn’t mean they are going to look like a warrior. No offense.” Shalice cuts in popping her gum.
Gordon just shakes his head with a small smile on his face. “Sorry to disappoint you but she isn’t wrong. So what did you want to tell us? You didn’t just reach out to us to have us come out here for no reason.” Jim said, getting to the point.
The tension had gone down enough for him to get a read of the situation and from what he could gather-- they were afraid.
They hid it well, but the tension of them coming out of the alley looking like they were ready to open fire on them but hesitated told him they were not doing it for him or Harvey. He noted the cowgirl and the man looking inconspicuously at the tops of buildings and the shadows.
They were afraid and looking for something that could be lurking around them. He had seen it plenty of times with criminals scared half to death when Batman got through with them.
Bullock and he shared a look now growing more worried by the second.
“Someone the Alliance hadn’t expected to reach out to us had given us some information on the Court and what it is currently planning.” John said to them. Two of Gotham PD’s finest narrowed their eyes.
Bullock closes the distance. Both guards whirl on him, their breathing becomes controlled but heavy like they are ready to gun him down. The two of them both tense up only for them relax if only slightly when John stepped in.
“Enough. Angelo, they are not our enemy. They need to know this and if anything happens we need to protect them like they were one of us. That goes for you as well Dallas.” John said to the man and turned to face the woman who both frowned. Angelo grudgingly nodded followed by Shalice gesturing for Dallas to calm down.
They respect one another. Shalice even respects John or maybe it's more than that Jim thinks to himself. His mind goes through everything he is witnessing and putting the pieces together like he learned to do when he first came to this city.
“Then spit it out if it’s so bad.” Bullock said to him and much like Gordon he had been through the worst this city had to offer. But if they had knowledge on what the Court is planning then they need it now.
John glanced around before looking at the others. They continued to walk with Bullock and Gordon not far behind them.
“Someone claiming to be a member of the Court had reached out to us through the Freemen. They wanted us to contact Commissioner Gordon in the hope you could let… him know what is coming.”
“Is that why we are going further into Old Town?” Gordon asked him.
Jim found himself more invested in this now than he had been before if it was true. But as he and Bullock got their hopes up they also made sure to keep aware of their surroundings since they learned the hard way good things like this don’t happen without something going wrong.
“Yes. The contact spoke of the Court's current plans to try and save the city from people like us.” He gestures at himself, Jim, and Bullock before pointing towards a few homeless and some gang members that looked like they should be doing their homework before heading to bed on the street.
The sun was beginning to set as the shadows across Old Town began to lengthen. The tension between their two guards returns with a vengeance.
“You two heard of the recent attack on Wayne Tower?” He asked them
Bullock scoffed. “Of course we did kid, everyone in Gotham heard about what happened. What does a couple of corporate thieves or terrorists have to do with the Court?”
“Despite what Wayne Enterprises said it wasn’t some thieves. It was the Court. They are going to use the air purifier they had taken in an attempt to poison the city. At least according to the informant.”
Whatever comment Bullock had at the tip of his tongue stopped dead in its tracks. He froze while Jim and the gang members continued walking forward.
“What?! That’s crazy!” Bullock sputtered, now realizing the severity of the situation. Gordon did his best not to let it show but an icy grip had taken hold of his heart.
If what they say is the truth it can only mean that cursed night was just the beginning of something far worse just around the corner. Plans went through Gordon’s head on evacuating the city but all of them ran into the same issue over and over again.
Getting the entirety of the city to do an orderly evacuation is nigh impossible.
It would be mass hysteria and could make things far worse… but Jim didn’t have it in him to not tell them the truth. He wouldn’t withhold something like this and get so many people killed.
It pained James to withhold information like this but he understood the reasoning of others in doing so even if he didn’t agree with it. His parents always told him that the truth would set him free. But they had never been in a situation like this.
Jim could already picture the state of Gotham once this got out. Traffic would become filled with cars going nowhere all trying to flee the city. Those who managed to leave have nowhere to go, leaving everything behind in a mad gamble to escape.
The streets would be flooded with looters, people desperate to find a way to survive once they realize any method to get out of the city would take too long.
Batman had given him some contingencies he had thought of back when James had finally decided to give Batman a chance instead of hounding him like he had in his early days.
One of those contingencies was to handle a mass evacuation of the people of Gotham should someone like Freeze or Crane try to do something that would affect the rest of the city.
“Okay… tell that to the crazy owl-themed monsters that came out and killed everyone, big boy.” Shalice said, giving Bullock an unimpressed stare blowing a bubble and popping it before turning back.
The group slowed down the closer to the clock tower they got.
Harvey for his part managed to calm himself down but he walked like a man possessed ready to do his part to stop this from happening. Another reason that Gordon liked Harvey despite him not always being presentable with food stains or numerous other reasons.
It was his dedication to doing the right thing and fighting for the people of this city that made Jim look past his flaws.
They neared the clock tower but stopped near an alley. John Smith sniffed the air making James quirk a brow in response.
“You guys smell that?” John asked them. They all gave him weird looks at what he was doing.
Jim stepped forward sniffing himself. His eyes widened minutely before he unholstered his gun with John doing the same, “Yeah. Iron in the air. Blood.”
It was an old friend to Jim by this point from both his time in the military and his tenure as a cop in Gotham. Even with him being promoted to Commissioner it was something he had long since learned to get accustomed to.
After that the others pulled out their weapons and moved like a coordinated group nearing the alley with John and James taking point. John ahead of him on the side of the wall took a glimpse around before freezing and slowly stepping out of cover.
Jim followed after him head on a swivel before he zeroed in on what was causing the smell. He wished he hadn’t.
Right there on the wall of the clock tower was a badly beaten man’s body crucified to the wall.
“Shit…” Harvey muttered to himself. Angelo did the sign of the cross before stepping forward looking around wary with his shotgun held at the ready alongside Dallas’s revolvers.
Shalice for her part had her pistol at the ready but stayed behind John. He looked at the body alongside Jim, the corners of his mouth going down.
A wooden sign with a necklace of rope is around his neck with one word written on it -- Traitor
“Donovan… what did they do to you?” John whispered out but Jim heard him all the same. His thoughts were racing at the implication.
“The same Donovan who was in control of Donovan Steel Works?” He asked, short and to the point. He does his best to gauge the extent of his injuries.
It was a lot.
Numerous cuts along his chest, wrists, elbows, knees, and ankles. Even more bruises and abrasions with purple swelling on his face with one eye swollen shut.
Three thin-bladed swords that looked similar to dueling blades pinned him to the bricks of the clock tower to both wrists and ankles.
The man’s head hung low. John got closer to him examining him with a face filled with remorse… maybe. Hard to say when Jim knew too little of the man but so far his respect had gone up a notch if he had the decency to feel for the man before them.
“He was your contact?” Jim asked him. He ignored the smell of the body, long since used to such things in his time with the special forces.
This… this is like a blast from the past for Jim. One that he wished had stayed a long forgotten bad memory. But like a person with a vendetta, it never stays away and takes pleasure in reminding you of its existence.
“Yeah…” John said before they sweep the area with Harvey pulling out a radio.
“This is Bullock. We need a forensic team and anyone you can send that can handle some trouble at the clocktower in Old Gotham. We got a body here pinned to the wall by the Owls.”
Like Jim, Harvey had been hardened by the streets and horrors of Gotham enough not to blanch at the sight of the body or the smell despite not serving in the military.
Blood had pooled beneath the man’s body, staining the old bricks a dark crimson. Jim forced his gaze away from the man’s brutalized body instead he looked at the solemn look on John’s face.
“You knew him?” Jim asked, trying to get any information he could.
“Not personally. I only heard things about him on the street. Had a chip on his shoulder and something to prove to everyone and he rubbed people the wrong way. The fact that they did this to him, he must have had quite the info to give us. Poor bastard must have been terrified enough to come to us of all people…”
Jim lowered his head and closed his eyes. Screams of the past came forth but just like he had done after his time was up with the military. Like every time he witnessed so much evil and madness in this city he took a strong firm grip of it and smothered it down.
He focused on his purpose that helped keep him going in this job-- a better and brighter Gotham where his daughter wouldn’t be afraid to walk its streets.
Opening his eyes he looked away from Donovan’s body and at the people around them before a familiar buzz in a specific pattern in his pocket let him know he was aware.
Harvey argued over the radio before with a gesture to his outstretched hand he handed over to Jim looking none too pleased with his coworkers.
“Dolores, It’s Jim. I don’t care what emergency you have going on at HQ and unless it’s the Joker we need to get a forensic team and some cops who can hold their own down here and I want them now.” He barked out taking control of the situation.
Dolores for her part falls silent before responding. “Yes sir.”
Promptly handing the radio back as Bullock shook his head muttering about her under his breath.
“No one touches a thing. We need to gather evidence.” He said feeling the weight of the city upon his shoulders. He turned to look at everyone before they could say a thing. “Also I have a… specialist coming in to see if he can find anything. No one shoots at him or starts a fight. Am I understood?”
“Crystal.” John is the first to say looking back at the man’s body he hadn’t taken his eyes off of. He then looked at Angelo and the man nodded grudgingly, lowering his shotgun.
“What he said, Commissioner.” Shalice piped in. She had distanced herself from the body and smell. Shalice for her part looked towards the mouth of the alley like she was on guard duty.
Her guard, Dallas, wore a grimace on her face but stayed by her side lowering and holstering her revolvers.
“How much information did he give you?” Jim asked, breaking the deafening silence not just to gather information but to get them to take their minds off the grisly sight pinned to the wall.
Jim had to fight himself to not take the man down and just cover him. The man had earned that much even if he had a horrible reputation. He risked his life and lost it trying to tip them off. Trying to help them and Gotham regardless if it was for the right reasons.
John tore his gaze away from Donovan and he stared into Jim’s eyes. “Quite a bit. He managed to give us information on a depot the Court used to store valuable materials they intended to use on us.”
Jim’s eyes widened as he stepped closer, “And you didn’t think to tell the Gotham police?!” He said now getting far more upset.
“We didn’t know if it was legit, and nothing against you Commissioner Gordon but you and your people after that night don’t have the manpower to go handle something like that currently. And we didn’t know if it was a trap and didn’t want to get anyone else killed over it.”
Jim soaked in what the man had just said. After his time spent in this city he had learned to know when someone was lying or withholding information. From how John Smith expressed himself, his body language and tone of voice-- he meant what he said.
His face softened from the glare he was leveling at the man and a part of him felt relief that he didn’t have to send any cops to their deaths handling something like that.
“Were there any of those… things guarding it?”
The man’s face felt like a shadow had slid over it with how his expression darkened. Jim knew that look. The look of someone remembering something they wished they could forget.
“Yeah. We did. We were better prepared to handle them compared to last time… still lost some people in the process, but we managed to bury them and their supplies under several tons of rock and dirt with a lot of fire as a parting gift.” He bit out looking bitter.
Jim and Harvey looked over to the others seeing they all were looking at them slowly nodding to them. Each had expressions of varying emotions. None of them are good.
“You did the right thing.” A new deeper and foreboding voice said. Everyone turned to face the protector of Gotham as he came out of the shadows of the alley. It was like the shadows themselves had come to life and from them he was born.
John held his arm up at the other gang members who looked about five seconds from shooting him but hesitated with John stepping in the way. “He is here to help us all. Do not attack him.” John said in a serious tone.
“What John said. Both of you put your guns down.” Shalice said, stepping beside John gesturing for them to do so. Looking at one another and then back at their bosses they do as told.
They all look at Batman with varying emotions. Anger, fear, but the one that got Jim’s attention more than anyone else was John.
It wasn’t fear. He instead looked at Batman with the closest thing he could describe as respect. What he did next further proved what Jim was thinking of him.
John stepped forward gesturing at the body of Donovan. “How much did you overhear?”
Batman looked at the body and turned his head to stare down at John who didn’t even cower back in fear while the other gang members stared at him wide eyed in utter disbelief that he would just walk up and talk to Batman.
Even Harvey stared on wide eyed mouth hanging open. It almost made Jim wish he had a camera to take a picture for when he had a bad day he could use it to get a good laugh. But he didn’t. The current situation made it difficult for him to find any joy from what had happened here.
“Enough to know you were going to meet with Donovan about the Court. How much did he tell you beyond the supplies you had destroyed?” Batman said while examining the crime scene taking out several small tools from his belt and scanning the area around them.
“What to expect from the talons and what they are capable of. It helped but only so much considering what those things can do.” John got right to the point with them. “The layout of a few locations he could give us. Even telling us what they planned to do to the city. But he didn’t tell us everything. Said he wanted to meet us alongside Commissioner Gordon only trusting us with the information he had.”
Jim already had a good idea as to why Donovan would have wanted to talk to the heads of the Alliance. They are currently one of the bigger gangs now having enough members to start rivalling gangs like Penguins and Black Masks.
Not only that but beyond those that are flocking to them for various reasons ranging from safety, money, and resources. The most notable thing about them is they have several people that those on the street call ‘veterans’.
It’s a title for those that survived that night and managed to escape from the Courts now named talons. Which meant they were a potential threat to the Court and had a good chance of fending them off.
It also helped that despite being a gang they had unlike others in the past come together and started helping their communities. They didn’t assume control over Gotham like the other gang leaders wanted to. They weren’t warlords cutting out their own kingdoms for themselves. Yet.
Batman remained silent as his jaw tightened. Jim learned from all of their interactions how to pick up the few signs of emotion from the man. He didn’t entirely agree with Batman’s methods but he had long since learned to set that aside if it meant he could help Gotham and its people where men like himself would fail.
“You four can leave, there is nothing more to be gained from being here.” He said dismissing John and the rest of the Alliance.
“What?! Who the hell do you think you are coming in here to give us--” Angelo said, stalking forward looking ready to raise his shotgun.
To Jim, Harvey, and dare he even say Batman’s shock John got in his way wrapping his arms around him in what Jim would almost call a hug.
“Angelo. Angelo!” He said pushing against him and getting in between him and Batman. “Look at me, not him but me.”
“Out of the way John, I got a score to settle with him! My uncle would be alive had he not been injured, he could have survived the Court on that night. Let me get him.” Angelo wasn’t demanding him, but begging.
His voice started to crack up, falling to his knees. Jim could see tears begin to form in his eyes, the man breaking down.
Batman watched on with the paper thin line of his mouth turning downwards. Watching the man begging John to let him go. Shalice and Dallas come closer with both giving Batman glares before lowering themselves and patting Angelo's back.
All three of them console the man and after a long tense moment he gets up rubbing his eyes muttering about how he has something in them. Dallas walked away with her arm wrapped around him. Shalice wasn’t far behind giving a long look at John who nodded at her with a grave expression.
Seemingly satisfied with what she saw, she turned around and quickly caught up with the other two.
“…is he going to be alright?” Harvey of all people said, breaking the tense silence. Harvey had a softer expression when the man broke down in front of all of them.
“He will be after he gets some rest and some tequila in him. A lot of our people much like everyone else have had a lot to deal with after the Court had come out to pay us all a visit.” He sounded like he had a lot on his mind.
Almost like a balloon deflating. Jim knew that feeling all too well having to be the man in charge calling the shots for the police in this city. His hand without thinking tried going into his pocket yet again. He winced at his bad habit rearing its head again before he slowly pulled it back out.
One hell of a time for him to try and quit smoking Jim thought to himself before stepping forward.
“Is this going to be a problem in the future with your group and Batman? Because if it is, we can't afford to have your people going rogue and trying to attack him.”
“It won’t be. As I said everyone has gone through quite a lot since that night.” He turned and looked at Batman, “Don’t take it personally what Angelo said and was going to do. You're not at fault since Angelo’s uncle got himself in that mess and forced you to do what you had to do.”
“… I never did.” He said it with no emotion, his frown faded into a neutral expression before he turned back to Donovan’s body.
Jim and Harvey both had to sit there contemplating what had been said. When had they ever heard a criminal in this city actually defend Batman? Neither of them after thinking it over could think of one time a criminal spoke up in defense for him.
A part of Jim was suspicious of that. But another part of him was hopeful that maybe this one time it was legitimate. Someone wasn’t trying to amass power and rule over the city, or some madman masquerading around like a good person shaking their hands while holding a match that would burn the city down behind their back.
Batman like usual appeared stoic and almost indifferent, like a shadow on the wall he just existed and was there. But Jim in the time working with him could tell that the sight of Donovan angered him.
His fingers in those gloves examining the crime scene with his various tools occasionally twitched. Like he wanted to grab someone’s throat and not strangle them but crush it and watch the life in their eyes slowly leave. His jaw would grow tighter before relaxing as fast as a man would blink.
Jim didn’t blame him. It was one thing to kill a man… but this was cruel and barbaric even by Gotham standards.
Batman rose off the ground like a dark specter leaving a grave before he turned to face them.
“Donovan isn’t the only one who was tortured and killed like this,” He said in a growl. The three of them narrowed their eyes and felt a deep well of anger start to boil. “There are a few others who had gotten into contact with various criminals and their gangs, all of whom did what the Alliance had done.”
“Jesus… there's more than just this poor guy?” Harvey said aloud. He shook his head mouth set firmly in a frown, hands clenched tightly.
“Unfortunately, yes.” He said to Harvey before turning to look at John, “Normally I don’t condone gangs attacking and destroying city property.”
John didn’t show any emotion, his face like that of a statue.
Batman continued, “But for once I am willing to make an exception. The Alliance can help with protecting civilians as you have already done and working with the police to evacuate the city if you think your people can handle it.”
Jim, Harvey, and John all give Batman pointed looks. He explained, “The Court has managed to steal a powerful air purifier from Wayne Tower and intend to use it as a means to poison the entire city. We need to start evacuating people now before they begin their plan.”
Harvey swore to himself while Jim was immediately thinking of everything he would have to do. Telling the mayor, having each news network make sure to get the message out, to save as many people while making sure everyone fleeing the city doesn’t clog up the means to leave slowing everyone else down.
It was… a lot.
Too much in fact. But despite how much of a headache and the stress of it all he can’t and won’t buckle under the pressure. Not when so many lives depended on him.
“My people will do their part, this city is our home and we won’t let it be taken from us or let anyone suffer from the Court.” John said with a resolute tone.
“Good. If you and your people take advantage of the situation or harm any innocents I will be coming for all of you once this is finished.” He warned, giving him his signature bat glare. John was wide eyed but nodded hesitantly.
Seemingly satisfied Batman stepped away going towards Jim and Harvey.
“Jim, will the Gotham PD be capable of handling this?” Batman asked him.
Jim didn’t take long to give an answer. “No. But it won’t stop us from trying. We just don’t have the manpower and even with the equipment Wayne Tech was kind enough to give us we still are fighting an uphill battle.” He said feeling absolutely exhausted, more so than he normally is.
Harvey snorted at that, “An uphill battle? May as well be fighting up a mountain, Comish.” He said, shaking his head. Despite his comment Jim knew he was in this with him and wouldn’t run like most sane men would have a long time ago.
“I just hope the Alliance is not all talk and can back up what they have been saying. So far from what I have heard and just seen they seem to be a good thing for this city.” Jim said to the two of them.
“We will have to wait and see.” Batman said before the conversation turned into what everyone needed to do and the best ways they could go about it.
Which was next to nothing but he would take anything to ease the burden the best they could. Hearing the sounds of sirens signaling the forensic team with the other cops as backup finally getting here.
Jim turned around to thank Batman only to see he had yet again managed to sneak away from him and Harvey without either of them noticing.
Sharing a look with Harvey who rolled his eyes before walking away from the alley. Jim could only shake his head.
“One of these days I am going to have to figure out how he does that.”
