It sped around the precinct. Wings waving over 230 beats per second. It dive bombed straight for a desk before pulling up just in time and made a bee line for the railing. The insect landed on the polished wood and danced around the area for a few seconds. Its wings flipped down just as it was about to take off when- splat!

Bullock slowly raised the rolled up newspaper and inspected the sticky goo that used to be a honeybee. He wrinkled his nose in disgust before tossing it aside.

"Damn bugs," the detective groaned.

He looked over at his partner who was busy writing his part of the ending reporting. Momentarily James Gordon rose his head slightly, his eyes on his partner.

"Just the time of year," his partner reminded.

Bullock was about to pick up another piece of the paper when an officer handed him a piece of paper through the bars. He read it quickly then let out a sigh.

"We got a dead one," Bullock informed passing the paper over to James, "subway platform between Second and Fourth."

James rose to his feet, slipping his arms through his jacket listening to his partner speak.

"Fifteen minutes until my end of shift too, don't know where people get the balls to pull off something like this."

"Maybe because they know deep down that you care," James teased.

"I also care about sleep…getting old."

XXXXXX

By the time the pair had arrived at the subway entrance there was a small mob of people gathered around. Officers were lined up holding the people back, telling them to stay back or keep walking. An officer lifted up the police tape allowing the two entrance, they walked down the stairs and turned to see a horrific sight.

The man's body was bloated two times it's side with bumps and other anomalies all over. The man's clothes were ripped in several places and seeped out of large puncture wound along with clear bile and pus. His eyes were swollen shut and his mouth was twisted into an obscene O that was deformed as the lips were shaped like mountains. His hands were gnarled into claws and fingers were coated with blood and skin.

"What the hell?" Bullock whispered.

Even James couldn't keep the disgusted expression off his face, but quickly he wiped it away and knelt by the body, accepting the pair of gloves gratefully. He gingerly touched one of the bumps finding it rock hard he touched a few more finding each in the same condition.

"Fascinating isn't it?"

The voice startled James and he rose quickly nearly head butting Edward Nygma in the face. The forensics investigator stepped back just in time and remained looking at the detective with a small smile. He looked down at the body, his smile seemed to grow.

"Do you have any explanations Ed?" James asked.

"Bees."

"...bees…."

Ed nodded. "Mmhh hmm, if you look here," the investigator used the end of a metal probe to lift the man's bruised ear. "You can see a small injection point where he was stabbed."

"By…bees…"

"Oh no, the injection is too large to be a bee stinger, but it is definitely bee poison, possibly of foreign origin."

James nodded looking at the body again.

"Have you seeing anything like this before?"

Ed shook his head, yet his eyes were as wide as a child's. James could practically see eager and adrenaline rush off the man.

"A bit odd for a reaction from a bee sting I admit," Ed continued in his usual light tone. "Usually there is common swelling around the stinger, redness, bruising and such. But nothing on this scale."

"Any name?"

"That's the puzzle detective, no I.D. of any kind and no wallet. However we did find his Express Card and some cash in his back pocket."

James bit his lip.

"I want that report as soon as possible."

"Of course detective."

James rose to his feet and started to take off the gloves. He turned back to see Bullock talking to an officer, he looked around graffiti was sprawled all over the walls and old flyers and posters, along the railings a rat walked.

"Hey partner."

James looked over to see Bullock come up to him.

"We got surveillance of the vic, their sending a copy to the precinct."

"Alright, Ed's gathering up the last bit of evidence and I told him to give us the report as soon as possible."

The two watched as the body was lifted and placed onto the stretcher.

"I gotta tell ya boy scout that is one hell of a way to go."

"Bigger question is who would want someone to go like that."

XXXXXX

At the precinct the body had circulated and even the prisoners in the holding cell knew about it. It was on everyone's tongue and didn't seem like it would ever come off. In the captain's room, Harvey and James stood before Captain Essen who was looking over the various pictures of the corpse.

"Is…is this even possible?" she asked, her voice nearly a whisper. After a pause she questioned: "Do you have anything?"

James shook his head. "Nygma is working as fast as he can, but the dental records will take a while. As for the poison all he knows is that it could be of foreign origin."

"So we could be dealing with a foreign contract killer?"

"Possibly."

"Gotham is a good place to hide," Bullock agreed, "especially if you know where to hide."

"Is this from a plant?"

"Ed thinks it could be a bug," James answered.

"Annoying things," Bullock muttered, "speaking of bugs."

James turned around and saw Ed come to the door with a bundle of files in hand. He turned giving his partner a chastising look. Essen motioned the coroner inside, a grin was wide across his face.

"What've you got Nygma?" James asked.

"I found the poison that murdered our victim, it's the Japanese Giant Hornet," Ed explained placing down the file. He handed them out. "It…as its name implicates – lives in Japan and kills about twenty people yearly. Highly deadly and highly aggressive, they are known to work in rather large groups. They also spray a corrosive acid to blind their victims before stinging them to death."

"But his eyes weren't melted, they were swollen shut."

"Granting more evidence to that he was stabbed with a hypodermic needle."

James remained silent for a few moments, his mind processing the current information and dividing what was positive against rumours and theory.

"Alright, you are all dismissed."

The three men left the room.

Outside James felt a tap on his shoulder and he turned to see Ed standing only an inch away from him.

"Uh…Ed…."

"If you don't mind detective," Ed said quickly. "I've looked into other cases that had similar parameters, such as poisoning."

"And?"

"Only one has being recorded, over ten years ago however the poison was of floral origin, not insectoid."

James let out a short breath.

"Anything else?"

"Yes, the suspect was captured and turned to be a Gotham citizen. The poison used was of European origin, foreign just like the bee poison used on our current victim."

James nodded adding more information to what was already said.

"What was the motive?"

"Turns out the victim was sleeping with the accused wife, he used the floral poison to throw the police off his game. As you can tell it wasn't the smartest idea, practically led us right to him."

Ed opened a file and handed it to the detective: "he worked for the government, in a natural environment sector."

"So he could have means of getting a poison?"

"It's possible."

James nodded and then took a look at the file himself.

"I want you and Dr. Thompson to see what else you can find on the body," James ordered. "We're missing something, there has to be more to this."

Ed nodded and walked back downstairs. Bullock was at his desk reading over some of the files, he looked over his glasses at James.

"Heard what Smartass told you," he said turning back to the pages. "That's one hell of a theory there Jim."

"If it is then we should visit the Bug Lab at Velren Tower, they're in charge of the wildlife sector."

Bullock rose to his feet grabbing his jacket and hat.

"Do you think that this is just a one hit kill?" James asked.

His partner shrugged.

"Murderers like these usually like to send a message…."

"Like what? 'I can squeeze poison out of a bee's ass – fear me?"'

"Could've done it for another person, a typical hired hitman."

"Who uses bee poison?" Bullock shook his head. "Sorry partner but it doesn't make sense, all hitmen use guns common knowledge here in Gotham."

"So we're dealing with a creative killer."

"Looking for sweet ol' revenge."

James raised an eyebrow while Bullock let out a low chuckle at his own joke.

"There's a different side of you."

"Someone has to partner."

"You want Nygma to come with us?"

"No."