A/N: Hello everyone! Hope you all are enjoying the story so far and of course I hope you all are doing well today. There are a lot of things going on in the world right now, so I hope that wherever you are, you're safe. ;)

Thank you all for reading/favoriting/following this story. I appreciate it so much! I absolutely adore you guys! I'm trying to update as often as I can, but I always want to produce quality work. Whenever I'm gone for too long, it's because I'm most likely working on a new chapter and I'm trying to make sure that it fits my standards.

I want to thank two very great people for helping me with this chapter, if you guys are reading this, thank you! And of course, I want to thank my beta Medicine Cat of the Opera for the encouragement!

I am so psyched for the love this story has received, you all are great and very, very important to me!

Please enjoy! :)

"She eyes me like a Pisces when I am weak
I've been locked inside your heart-shaped box for weeks
I've been drawn into your magnet tar-pit trap
I wish I could eat your cancer when you turn black"

'Heart Shaped Box' Nirvana

Jupiter and Mitchell are still missing - it's been three weeks. Three long, tedious weeks. Emily Thatcher's house has been burned down - - proven to be arson - fortunately they finally have a suspect; unfortunately the suspect is none other than Emily's ex-husband Eric Cooper.

Blake highly doubts that Eric had anything to do with it - he can't exactly put his finger on why but he has a hunch that the man's innocent.

Fletcher apparently shares his views except he's more vocal about it.

"I'm telling you, Blake, this is Benedetti's doing. He's playing a game with us."

Fletcher seems to have his own speculations, but Benedetti has a very good defense attorney. This just may be the most twisted, lethal game they have ever had to participate in, but Blake figures that if he's going to be a player, he might as well bring everything he has onto the table.

He's been doing research, going to the Gotham Library, peering through stacks and stacks of files, doing his best sleuthing and nothing points to Benedetti. It's puzzling, but Blake won't quit -he's already in way too deep.

But then things go to shit when Cooper confesses. It catches Blake off guard. He doesn't want to believe it - Cooper faces a five to ten year prison sentence, and losing custody of his son as well as all forms of contact. The list of cons far outweigh the pros where motive is concerned. And yet all signs point to him - his alibi is completely nonexistent, he has motivation (Emily divorced him and his efforts to repair their relationship have been effective but slow going) . To make matters even worse, at least two witnesses have admitted that they saw him at the scene, the night the crime was committed.

None of this makes sense and yet, at the same time, it sort of does. It doesn't help that with Cooper's confession, the media and the general public now have someone they can take their fear and anger out on. It makes it incredibly difficult for the force to do its job. The media have a knack for polluting everything they get wind of and warping the opinions of the public. This whole thing is turning into a scandal and that bothers Blake to no end.

Gotham City is convinced that Eric Cooper is a monster, a monster worse than Mike Benedetti. That thought is just one of the things keeping Blake from sleeping at night.

Blake arrives at the precinct, tired, stressed out and completely dreading the thought of putting all of his remaining energy into working and having nothing to show for it. No matter how much effort they exert, nothing is getting any better.

He's nodding to several of his colleagues in greeting and making his way to his office when he accidentally bumps into someone. He apologizes profusely, but when he sees the person, he can't help but feel even worse. For one thing, the man is obviously homeless (if his tattered clothes and ruffled hair are any indication) and secondly, he's much older than Blake and he seems to be confused. "Are you lost, sir?" Blake asks, putting on a friendly smile.

The man shakes his head in the negative.

"I-I have something to say about Eric Cooper."

Blake frowns, he isn't pleased that there is yet another person who feels it is their responsibility to announce to the entire police department just how much Eric Cooper is hated.

"That's really not necessary, sir. Can I help you with anything else?"

It is the man's turn to frown. "Eric Cooper is innocent, it is one of your officers who's responsible for that fire."

"Son of a bitch." Fletcher curses, walking in. "Do you know who did it? Did you see anyone's face?"

Blake is stunned. What in the world?

The man nods. "I did."

"Are you sure? Because that is a huge accusation." Blake can feel his voice shaking.

"Are you sure you aren't crazy?" Fletcher asks, earning him a glare from Blake.

"Oh he isn't crazy." Fletcher and Blake turn around to find Officer Moody watching the homeless man with glee. "He's actually a hundred percent correct, too bad he's too little too late," he pulls out a cigarette and with a shaky hand, puts it to his lips, "there's going to be so much blood."

Fletcher goes up and grabs Moody while Blake stands in front of the homeless man, protecting him from any harm with his hand already hovering over his gun in case things get ugly. "What are you talking about?" Fletcher barks.

Moody coughs, a spatter of blood escapes his throat and wets Fletcher's face. The corrupt cop starts to tremble violently and his eyes roll back in his head. He manages to choke out a "No. One. Is. Safe." Fletcher - in a moment of panic - releases him from his hold. Moody's body makes a harsh thud when it falls to the ground.

Blake hears Fletcher curse and shout his name but as if in a trance, he can't seem to move or respond. His brain just does not want to process what it just witnessed. No one is safe... The homeless man starts to pray and that somehow snaps Blake back to reality. "Cooper, we have to get Cooper."

"Moody and a bunch of guys cornered me on my way to work, about a month ago. They put me on the phone with Benedetti, h-he told me what Moody was going to do. He said that they were only burning the house down as a message. But if I didn't take the blame for the fire, Emily and Mason were going to pay the price next time, for real. Benedetti told me that all I had to do was make sure that my family wasn't home that night, that I should be there at the scene of the crime and then lie and say that I did it." Eric admits, tears streaming down his face. "I didn't know what to do."

"You were lost and scared, it's understandable. You weren't really given much of a choice either and you didn't have an eternity to make that choice. Hell, it kind of feels as if we're all running out of time. The pressure isn't making us think clearly." Smith nods. "We thought Moody was one of us, I can't imagine how he was able to go unnoticed for so long. I guess with all that was going on we weren't paying much attention."

Cooper rakes a hand through his dark hair. "What happened to that creep?"

"He intentionally overdosed on prescription medication right there in the precinct."

"Shit."

"Yep."

"Officer Smith?"

"Yes, Mr. Cooper?"

"Even good people do bad things. I bet the Batman walks that line too. Everyone is capable of something."

"My mother always told me that you could possibly lose more than your morals when you do bad things - you could also lose yourself."

Cooper murmurs: "Any chance she told you what to do when that ship has already sailed?"

Smith shrugs. "Simple, really: you find your way back home."

A/N: Thank you all for reading! See you all next chapter!

As always, stay tuned and have a great week!

Also, I'm always here if you guys have any questions/concerns/comments.