3.
Harvey Bullock had just been called into Gordon's office shortly after clocking it. He managed to snag a donut from a rookie's desk on his way, no one being the wiser. When he caught Montoya's eye, he nodded her way in greeting, but was startled by the fierce glare she was giving him in response. Then her eyes went towards the donut that he was munching on and then back to him. It was almost as if she was saying 'If that donut isn't out of your hands in five seconds, there will be trouble.'
So he threw the donut out and wiped off the crumbs decorating his front. He straightened himself a little at the door to the Commissioner's office and began to turn the knob when he realized someone was staring at him. He turned his head and saw one of the older guys, O'Hara, looking at him with the same disapproval that Montoya had been giving him.
"There a problem?" Bullock asked gruffly.
"It depends," O'Hara crossed his arms, "Are ya gonna blow up half the city just to kill one person again?"
"What, you mean Batman?" Barely a week ago, Bullock had rounded up plenty of officers with the support of Arthur Reeves to hunt Batman down for the murders of several mobster members now suspected to have ties with one another. He wasn't able to catch the vigilante, much to his aggravation.
"I think you might wanna continue the conversation with Gordon," O'Hara turned away now and began to walk back to his desk, "I think he wants to have a few words with ya on the matter."
Bullock snorted and opened the door, only becoming aware that he and Gordon weren't the only ones in the room a second too late. He didn't realize that the DA, Janet Dorn, would have been joining them in the meeting and felt as if he should have at least straightened his tie first.
"Bullock," Gordon said coldly. He gestured to the empty chair in front of him, "Have a seat."
Bullock complied, starting to wonder what had gotten under everyone's hair today.
Dorn then proceeded to lay down several pictures onto Gordon's desk, "Would you care to explain to us what these are supposed to be, Mister Bullock?"
Bullock peered at the images and his eyes widened at the sight. People being carted off into ambulances; the elderly, adults, even children as young as three, there was no discrimination.
"What's this?" He asked no one in particular.
"This," Dorn began, "is the aftermath of your manhunt of the Batman. No clearance for any of the weapons or machinery. Destruction of public property. Life endangerment. And now we're looking at manslaughter!"
"WHAT?!" Bullock rose to his feet, "But we were targeting Batman, we didn't bring the big guns until we had him cornered!"
"Meanwhile, your so-called SWAT team ended up hitting civilians by mistake and you went over my head to accomplish this!" Gordon snapped, "Sit back down, Bullock! This is only the top of the iceberg!"
Bullock didn't comply, "So Bats kills several people and I'm the one who's in trouble?!"
"We were getting to that!" Dorn shoved several more pictures into his face. Bullock looked at them and saw some guy wearing some kind of Grim Reaper-eske outfit fighting Batman. "The one who killed those mobsters? You're looking at him!"
"Wait," Bullock did a double take, "So your saying that –"
"Batman was innocent and you were trying to kill him for nothing," Gordon cut him off, "Sit down!"
This time, Bullock obeyed.
Then, he had to sit and listen to the DA and his boss chewing him out over his actions, telling him that he was suspended until further notice pending investigation and that all the men he had rallied would be facing similar consequences. His first date in court was pending and if he had any sense, then he would not pull anymore stunts.
When he walked out of the office, he was a gun and a badge lighter.
Author's Note: It seemed strange that Bullock wasn't called out for his actions in The Mask of the Phantasm since he was technically endangering lives with his stunt. I don't know if this is how it should have happened, please let me know in the comments, I'd appreciate it.
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