City in Pieces

Chapter Eleven: Ace's Ruse

Ace's letters came in one by one. Barsad, knowing the familiar discomfort of handing his commander the letters from an old friend, stepped uncertainly toward Chance, who was using the computer to flash through the placed bombs throughout the city. Barsad approached her from the darkness to stand beside her, holding the envelopes casually by his side as he watched Chance's hands fly through the computer screen. She knew exactly what she was looking for. The light of the screens flashed in their eyes as Chance brought up several prints from the city's landscapes. Bombs were placed under the scaffolds of construction sites, in basements of highly-profitable restaurants and hotels; below the west wings of five of the six bridges that connected Gotham to the rest of the world, and several were implanted around what above them was the Gotham Rogues' Football Stadium. Chance brought up a photograph of the Mayor's box along the seats of the sports fans. Chance glanced at the lingering man behind her.

"Barsad. You're awfully quiet."

"Just thoughtful, Ma'am." Barsad retorted.

Chance inhaled slightly, then began,

"I'm rather intrigued about how fast your men work, Captain. These oil drums are placed in some of the most intricate locations. I'm a bit interested in how you managed to put all this concrete under the bridges without them falling from the hangings." Chance indicated the five of them in each captured photo. "From a helicopter's view, nobody can spot them. You're a good man, Barsad. Good man."

"I appreciate the candor," said Barsad. He had come to meet Bane on several occasions. He owed the man his life, which is why Barsad never so much as argued with Bane. Barsad had come to greatly respect Chance over the years. Her fondness for the masked man was highly admirable and well-intrigued by half of the League of Shadows. Barsad would go so far as saying that his two leaders would simply be lost without the other, though he would never admit it out loud. Barsad saw Chance as the second gear that would rust if Bane left the League. He was, after all, the entire reason why Chance was alive after all.

"I know," said Barsad, "that you don't enjoy hearing this, but I was told to continue to bring them to you as they come."

Chance turned to look at Barsad's offering hand. The familiar crestfallen gaze appeared on her face as she withdrew the sealed envelopes from his hand.

"Lieutenant," said Barsad, "I understand that Ace is a prisoner in Black Gate. Everyone's under the impression that because Joker is in Arkham, and she's away from him, Ace must be raving mad in there. But I ask you permission to tell you what I think."

Chance looked at him.

"More opinions about what she is like, hm?"

"I don't know much about Ace, personally: only what I've heard."

"I enjoy your company, Barsad," Chance said honestly. "But this is a very touchy subject."

"It's not a bad opinion, ma'am."

Chance set the letters on the table.

"All right."

"It's been eight years, and she is still sending you these, every day." Barsad divulged. "If she was really going insane, if she was really feeling lost in that solitary cell of hers, why would she continue to send you two letters a day? Three letters, four a day? Every week, they build and build. And if the warden was trying to set her loose among the male population, it's completely invalid."

"Invalid?" said Chance, though she was smiling.

"Yes," said Barsad certainly. "If Ace is enthralled with this joker man as much as you said she was, this girl would never let any man, especially these inmates, touch her. Especially inappropriately."

"You make a good point." Chance said.

"I want to make another." Barsad offered.

"Which is…?"

Barsad, brave enough, side-stepped her and took up the letters from the table. He handed them to her.

"If she has continued to write you, then it's obvious to me that she knows that you haven't been reading them. If Ace was truly a good friends of yours from childhood, then Ace knows how you reacted when she was arrested. Ace knows that her imprisonment is torturing you." Barsad said boldly, "And it's likely that she, too, knows that Daggett and Stryver are irking you."

Barsad was really shining. Chance took Ace's mail and continued to hold the envelopes. Barsad seemed to know exactly what was going on. Did Ace know what was going on despite her containment? Did she know about Daggett and Stryver.

"Continue." Chance nodded. "Please."

Barsad and Chance sat down. He brought over a steaming kettle. He offered a chance to make an Irish coffee, but due to present circumstances, Chance declined. Barsad served her a cup, as then gave one to himself.

"You were saying about Ace." Chance reminded him.

Barsad continued,

"When I was first recruited, Bane told me about your relationship with this Ace Leswaae. He told me that you and Ace were enemies. I went around Gotham, asking about Ace, and according to the poll count, she was this highly dangerous, crazy, psycho bitch—pardon the expression—who went around killing people because she could. And then I asked about you. I was told that you were a very restrained woman who all she wanted out of the world was to rule this place. You were very OCD with this thing that you couldn't help. If you promised somebody something, you had to go through with it.

"Well, over the years, I've listened to these men's stories about you and Ace. At one point, you and Ace were best friends, hardly separable. Then you and her stopped working together because she was blood thirsty and you only killed if you had to. Well, a few more years pass, and then I'm told that you and her are working together again, but this time, Two-face and Joker are your pals. A few years pass. Then I was told that Two-Face pretty much dumped you for this pretty face who dumped him, and you went solo; while Ace went with Joker. Eight years ago, I started working with you, and you met Bane. And you and Ace were enemies.

"Of course, when you spent five years under the water, and Ace was still with Joker, I figured that she pretty much hated you and you hated her back." Barsad said, then he drank some of his coffee.

Chance listened, interested.

"So," continued Barsad, "I spent the next six years, watching you become this highly-respected Lieutenant who finally had Talia and Bane to trust her. So then Joker and Ace come to town. Now she's this crazy girl who is like a panting dog for this clown that we only know of because you were in cohoots with. Ace, who is now entirely seething about how you left her, tries to kill you, but when she learns that you actually were being held against your will, she forgives you. So now you and Ace are friends again. After Joker is arrested, I'm told that you tried to give her a way out. She declines. But after three years of not having this clown by her side, Ace goes fucking crazy and tries to blow up Arkham. Seven years pass, and here we are. Ace is sending you letters every single fucking day.

"And you think that she is mad and helpless?" Barsad said smiling. "Ace doesn't like the cage she's in. Neither do you, but I have a hunch that she knows that you hate it for her. She knows that, and she knows that you and Bane have already planned to bomb Gotham to the ground. She knows it."

Chance looked impressed.

"You've got some keen insight, Captain," said Chance.

"Mm," agreed Barsad, and he drank his coffee. "Ace," he said, "is in Black Gate Prison. She is waiting for you to break her out. And she knows that you are coming to free her. Her constant letters are sending everyone else the message that once she breaks out, she is going to be so angry at you," he pointed to Chance, "that she won't even acknowledge anyone's existence. Daggett and Stryver think that since you're ignoring her, she won't think twice about killing them. She'll come straight to you."

Chance grinned. "You're saying that all of this is a ruse?"

Barsad nodded. "Yes. Chance, isn't this something that Ace would do?"

Chance considered it. She leaned back in her seat.

"Damn it." Chance chuckled. "It is."

Barsad poured himself more coffee.

"Which, as far as Ace goes, this all goes according to her plan. She's quite a firecracker," agreed Barsad, "and she may enjoy killing people, but that doesn't mean she's insane. She's a blood thirsty killer who may enjoy it too much," sighed Barsad, "but not insane. Even when she was going to kill you, and you thought so, too, it would be something to laugh about later."

Chance smiled.

"So, if you have enough gumption to point all this out to me, why didn't you say anything to Bane?"

Barsad gave Chance a sweet smile.

"Well, in my experience, Bane doesn't care about Ace. The only reason why he chooses not to give you these letters is because Ace is just a fruitcake who should die with all the other citizens of Gotham." Barsad said casually. "But he won't kill her. Out of respect for you," he pointed out. "That's why he didn't kill Ace in the first place, isn't it?"

Chance looked at him.

"Then why didn't he kill me in the first place? I intruded on the lair."

Barsad shrugged. "That, Lieutenant, has always been a mystery to me."