XXV
"Fear was the hand of the devil holding a scalding hot branding iron and touching your brain and your stomach and yelling at you to run with leaden feet." ― Dan Groat, Monarchs and Mendicants
"You wanna kiss me?"
Bird stopped descending the stairs in Wayne Manor upon hearing Selina Kyle's voice and question.
"No thank you."
She could hear Bruce answer, and as quietly as possible Bird moved farther down the steps to get a better look at the young teenagers.
"No?" Selina asked crossing her arms over her chest and shooting him a look of disbelief.
"I would like too, but I can't help feeling you have an ulterior motive. I don't imagine you consider me a suitable romantic partner, so why would you want to kiss me?" Bruce answered as honestly as possible, and ended with it a question in hopes that he'd get an equally honest answer from her.
Bird covered her mouth to keep from laughing and draw attention to herself.
While she thought her brother's answer was adorable, she could easily see why he wasn't faring well with any of the girls from his school.
"You think too much, kid. I was just trying to be nice." Selina pointed out, appearing to not be fazed by his answer.
"No offense, but you don't strike me as a nice person." Bruce said, standing up and moving closer to her.
"I'm nice." She was quick to defend.
"I don't mean you're not a good person, just that you're not nice. You don't care much for other people." He tried to explain, but it turned the situation from bad to worse when it only offended her deeper and Selina snapped, "Screw you, orphan."
Bird shook her head at them and quickly continued on her trek down the staircase in hopes to diffuse the situation as quickly as it had escalated.
"Morning you two." Bird greeted, as she walked up to the pair and asked, "Had breakfast yet?"
"No." Selina answered and Bruce shook his head back and forth, but he had a stunned expression on his face from how quickly Selina had snapped at him, when he'd been nothing but entirely honest with her.
Looking between the teens who no longer would look at each other, Bird asked, "Everything alright?"
They both nodded, but neither of them gave her an answer out loud.
"Great." She said with a tight smile, before asking, "Wanna give Alfred the morning off and go get breakfast somewhere?"
"Both of us?" Bruce questioned, surprised, as he looked between his sister and Selina.
Much like Selina, he knew Bird didn't care much for people either and it was rare that he witnessed her being pleasant in social situations with people she barely knew.
"Yes…" She replied, mirroring the confused expression he was giving her.
"I could eat." Selina spoke up, living almost her entire life not knowing where her next meal was coming from –she knew better than to turn down a chance at free food.
"I'll let Alfred know, and you guys decide where we're going to eat." She said, hoping it would get them civilly speaking to each other again.
Hearing the door bell ring, the trio leaned over the railing on the landing they were standing on to watch as Alfred went to answer the door.
"If you could call an ambulance…" They heard a distressed female voice say, moments before she walked into sight with Alfred right behind her.
"Where exactly are you hurt?" Alfred questioned with concern in his voice as he looked her over. When he'd answered the door, she said her car had went off the road.
"Alfred, is everything alright?" Bruce asked.
"No, Master Bruce this lady has been involved in a car accident." Alfred explained, and just as he was going to ask one of them to call for an ambulance he saw the fear in Selina's eyes and he slowly turned his head back to see the woman was no longer acting the part of an injured stranger in need of help.
Instead her predatory gaze was now focused on the teenagers and he realized she wasn't truly there seeking help.
"Run!" Alfred yelled, as he struck the woman down, trying to prevent her from going after them.
Within a matter of seconds a couple men entered the house, dressed all in black like the woman was. Bird looked to her brother as she repeated Alfred's order, "Run!"
With that she jumped over the railing, using one of the men underneath to break her fall as she wrapped herself around him when they tumbled to the floor. In an instant she was on top of his back holding him down, and got her arm around his throat and grabbed onto her other arm to keep the hold on him tight. She pushed her free hand down onto the back of his neck and held tight until he stopped struggling and fell unconscious within a matter of mere seconds.
Jumping to her feet, she looked over and saw the woman who'd lied about the car accident trying to get a sleeper hold on Alfred, much like the one she, herself, had just done to the still motionless man on the floor, but Alfred managed to flip the woman off of him.
Two more armed men rushed through the still open front door and the woman took off running up the stairs, leaving one of her men to take her place in the fight with Alfred.
Bird turned and darted up the stairs after them, hoping that her brother had either made it out of the house already, or was hidden away somewhere where he couldn't be found by someone who didn't know the layout of Wayne Manor.
Stopping briefly at the top of the stairs, she glanced around on high alert for anything out of place, it was then that she saw an open closet door that led to an old servants hallway. Following the path she thought her brother would have taken Selina on to get out of the house, she followed the path of the hallway until she reached an open window and climbed out onto the attached roof of the veranda, and jumped down to the ground.
Landing perfectly in a crouch, she looked around and caught a glimpse of dark clothing vanish behind some tall shrubbery leading into the side yard. Back on her feet in an instant she sprinted after the assassins, she could hear gunfire being exchanged behind her, but she didn't look back.
In the shade of all the trees, it wasn't long until the man and woman she'd been tailing were out of her line of view and she could only hope that –that meant they'd also not been able to follow her brother and Selina.
Slowing to a stop, Bird tried to slow her breathing and focused on her surroundings.
"BRUCE!"
Alfred's voice cut through the silence of the moment like a razor sharp blade, knowing that if Alfred was yelling out for her brother, he wasn't still back in the house; meaning he'd fled the grounds with Selina.
Taking a deep breath she started running again away from the house in hopes she might find Bruce.
~()~
"Local P.D. is searching the woods, but so far no sign of Bruce or Selina." Jim announced as he walked into the room of Wayne Manor where Alfred's gunshot wound was being tended to by one of the paramedics on sight.
"They're not going to find them." Bird huffed, fighting for her breath as she entered the room and leaned back against the wall. "I've been all over it and didn't see them."
Seeing that Alfred was injured she slightly stumbled over to him and realized the gun shots she'd heard had to have been him squaring off with one of the assassins.
"How bad are you hurt?" She gasped, still trying to catch her breath.
"Not bad." He answered, looking her over and observing her exhausted state, with her damp hair stuck to her face and the beads of sweat still forming across her forehead, her cheeks had taken on such a dark red hue that in the shadowed spot she was standing in they looked black.
"Sit down and catch your breath." He ordered, nodding to the couch and he didn't have to tell her twice. She practically collapsed onto the leather and was starting to feel like she'd never breathe normal again.
After instructing an officer to bring Bird a glass of water, Jim looked to Alfred and then over to Bird, "Tell me about this woman."
"Well, she was early thirties." Alfred said, flinching as they applied pressure to his still bleeding arm, "A pretty tasty fighter actually."
"Yeah, she and the guys with her." Bird nodded in thanks as she gratefully took the glass of water from the officer and pointed out, "They had to be professionals."
Slapping the hands of the paramedic away from him, Alfred stood up and said, "Look mate, it's just a scratch. Shove off will you, I've got stuff to do."
Following him across the room Jim said, "We've got about fifty police in the woods and even more on the roads. We need to focus on this woman and her people."
"They were trained killers, as Lady Wayne said." Alfred gruffly replied, thinking of how the only reason for them to be at the house would have been after Selina, he pointed out, "And your bloody little girl brought them here."
"We don't know that yet." He tried to argue.
"The hell we don't." Bird loudly said, downing the last of her water as she stood up and pointed out, "They only wanted anything to do with Alfred and I, when we got in their way. They were here for Selina."
Walking into the room, Bullock congratulated Alfred and Bird on the assassins they'd brought down before the police got there, "Nice work out there."
"Not good enough though, was it?" Alfred replied.
"Got this off the dead guy outside." Bullock said, holding up a picture of Selina's latest mugshot. "Nothing else. No keys, no ID, notta. Now I know this girl, she was grabbed by the child snatchers and now she's getting attacked by assassins at Wayne freaking Manor?"
His voice raised as he looked to his partner and asked, "What the hell is going on compadre?"
"What, you haven't told him?" Alfred questioned, shaking his head back and forth.
"Selina Kyle was in the alley the night the Wayne's were murdered. She saw the killers face." Jim explained.
"No, no, no." Bullock argued, "For petes-sake, do not do this to me."
"Harvey Dent in the DA's office is investigating, he thinks that Dick Lovecraft, might be connected to the Wayne killings. So, he let it leak that we had a witness. He thought he could spook Lovecraft, get him to reveal himself." Jim filled him in on what had been happening.
"Wait." Alfred said, looking to Bird, "Are they talking about your Harvey Dent?"
"Yeah, my Harvey Dent." Bird sighed, rubbing her forehead. "But he didn't even know who the witness was."
"I didn't tell him." Jim assured Alfred, then looked to Bird with an expectant look on his face.
"Don't look at me like that. You can't pin this one me!" She argued with her own voice raised.
"Great!" Bullock exclaimed, tossing his arms up as he spoke, "It all sounds like a hell of a plan."
Pausing for a second, he yelled, "How did it work out? Bravo!"
"I thought she was safe." Jim defended, "We thought no one knew she was here."
"Yeah, well you were wrong, you plank!" Alfred accused, "How did they know?"
Ignoring his question, Bullock let Jim know how mad and upset he was that he didn't let him in on the plan. To which, Jim tried to defend his actions by saying that he didn't tell him because he knew Bullock would try to stop it.
A few minutes passed with the partners yelling at one another and Bird looking back and forth between them while the ever-present pounding in Alfred's head only increased with each passing second.
"Will you both shut up? The pair of you! You can argue later!" He finally screamed, causing everyone to jump from the sudden and unexpected outburst. "Right now, we need to find Master Bruce."
"Right." Jim agreed nodding, "If they don't come back soon, then their headed into the city. Selina feels safe there and Bruce-"
"Would follow her, for sure." Bird said, she could see just how fond her little brother was of Selina and there was no doubt in her mind that he'd follow her right into the heart of Gotham City.
"That's perfect." Bullock complained, "Good luck trying to find her in the city, a street kid like that."
"But you will help us?" Jim questioned.
"Yeah, of course I will… because I have to be crazy!"
"Thank you." Jim said, before turning his attention back to everyone else and saying, "I'll focus on Lovecraft, I'll find him and if he is behind this, I'll get him to call off the contract."
After instructing Bullock to use his contacts on the street and run angles from that way, Alfred volunteered to go with Bullock and Bird caught up with Jim outside to tell him she was coming with him.
~()~
Bird was just steps behind Jim when he barged into Harvey's office and he accounted, "Lovecraft's not at home. His housekeeper hasn't seen him since yesterday."
"Allen says he didn't come into his office." Harvey said in a rushed voice as he looked between them, "He and Montoya are watching it."
"How did the killers know where to find my witness?" Jim asked, though it seemed like he was asking himself that out loud rather than looking for Bird or Harvey to answer him.
"Let's keep calm. This is a win. We made Lovecraft panic, this is a panic movie." Harvey said.
His eyes widened when he was met by the harsh and wrath filled stares directed at him from both his girlfriend and from Jim.
He opened his mouth to explain how what he'd meant wasn't nearly as bad as the way it came out, but he wasn't given a chance to speak.
"A win?" Jim and Bird both yelled at the same time, catching Harvey even more off guard.
"There are two children out there with professional assassins coming after them." Jim added and Bird stepped closer to Harvey as she pointed out, "We're talking about my brother, Harvey. You've met him, how the hell do you think he's gonna make it out there on the streets with trained killers just a few steps behind him?"
"We're going to get Lovecraft to call them off." Harvey said, looking between them and managing to keep his voice calm even though everyone else in the room was shouting at him.
"How the hell did they know?" Jim breathed, rubbing his forehead. "I never even told you her name, let alone where she was hiding. So you couldn't have -"
"I should say not!" Harvey cut him off, looking offended by the suggestion that he would have been stupid enough to leak that information, even if he'd had it.
Bird crossed her arms over her chest and leaned against the desk. When Jim looked at her, she shot him a look of her own to let him know he'd regret it if he hinted again at her being responsible.
"And you never mentioned my name to anyone?" Jim asked, looking back to Harvey.
"No!" He said, his voice raising to match the detectives tone, "We agreed, I didn't mention any names out loud."
"Out loud?" Bird asked, immediately picking up on his slip.
Looking back to the attorney, Jim slowly walked towards him in a threatening manner as he asked, "No names out loud, what about whispering?"
When Jim came to a stop directly in front of him, Harvey's eyes widened slightly from the manner in which he was being approached. Looking to the side he broke eye contact and being a seasoned interrogator, Jim immediately picked up on his hesitation.
"Don't hold back on me, I'll know." He warned.
"For deep background, I leaked your name to a couple of select sources." He finally admitted, his eyes cutting over to Bird for a second to gauge her reaction before he quickly looked away.
"I had to!" He quickly defended when both Jim and Bird were looking at him like his hands were stained with blood, "For credibility! You're the Wayne murders cop."
"Damn it, that's how they got to her!" Jim yelled.
"My god, I'm surprised it took them this long to find her then!" Bird yelled, with shock and desperation in her tone.
"This is on you, Dent!" Jim yelled, charging back towards him in such a way that it looked like he might actually throw a punch at Harvey, and as mad as Bird was she doubted she'd have tried to stop him if he did.
"Whoa, alright… I'll stipulate mea culpa, kick my ass –be my guest." He said, looking to Jim who stood at least a few inches shorter than he did, "But lets find Lovecraft first, get him to call off the killers."
"He's not at home." Jim breathed, taking a step back and resisting the urge to strike Harvey, "He's not at his office, he could have already left Gotham or someone could be hiding him."
Rushing around to the other side of his desk and rummaging through some loose papers, Harvey explained, "Lovecraft has a few condos that he keeps under his mistresses name. One up in Stevensburg and one uptown."
"We'll start with the one uptown." Jim announced, looking over the paper that he'd been handed.
"We should split up, I can go to the one in Stevensburg." Bird offered, thinking that they could cover twice as much ground separate.
Jim started to agree but then remembered, "You rode with me."
Bird looked over to Harvey, intending to tell him she needed to borrow his car, but he surprised her when he offered, "I'll drive."
~()~
It was much later that day that Harvey was sitting in his car, staring at what looked to be an abandoned building that Bird had entered nearly ten minutes ago.
Letting out a heavy sigh he drummed his hands against the steering wheel and fought the urge to go inside and make sure that she was okay.
As she'd let him know several times since leaving his office earlier that day, he'd done enough damage, something he was very much aware of. He wanted to fix things now, but it seemed like Bird was getting more done than he was.
When they'd gone to Lovecraft's condo in Stevensburg, he wasn't sure what was said between the on-site manager of the building and Bird, but whatever she'd said had done the trick and he'd let them into the condo.
It was empty and it turned out to be a tension filled long drive to and from the building with Bird, and ultimately a waste of their time and efforts.
Not that it even mattered anymore, the last they'd heard from Jim was that he'd found Lovecraft at his uptown place, but they'd barely have time to speak before the same assassins that showed up at Wayne Manor came for Lovecraft and killed him.
As it turned out he wasn't the one who'd put the hit out on Selina after all, he wasn't near as close to the top of the food chain as they'd all thought.
Since finding out about Lovecraft's murder, Bird had instructed Harvey to drive her to several locations deep in the heart of Gotham City –though she wouldn't let him go inside with her to any of them. She claimed the people she needed to talk to would probably mistake him for a cop and scatter before she'd get the chance to speak with them.
He had also noticed she wouldn't call anyone from inside of the car where he could hear her phone conversations. Knowing she'd spent the last few years working in a nightclub, he'd imagined she was probably familiar with some unsavory characters, but watching the way in which she easily navigated the worst parts of Gotham –like she knew it as well as the back of her hand, had left him with several questions that he wasn't sure he'd even want the answers to.
Looking back to the building, be breathed out a sigh of relief when he saw Bird emerge and jog towards the car.
"I think I know where they are." She said in a rushed voice as she got into the car, in a less than confident tone she admitted, "Or at least where they'd be heading next.
Not giving him time to ask any questions, she explained, "Selina's been on these streets for a while and she knows how to disappear, my brother obviously doesn't fit the part. So I figured they might have stopped by The Flea to get him new clothes-"
"The Flea?" Harvey questioned.
"Yeah." she nodded towards the building she'd just came out of, "It's where a lot of street kids hang out, swap and sell clothes and other things they've stolen."
The confused look on his face grew as he wondered how she'd even know about it, let alone where to find the place.
"But they weren't in there?" Harvey tried to follow along with her scattered story.
"No, but I did find Mario Pepper's daughter, Ivy, in there. It cost me a hundred dollars for the information, but she said that Selina was asking her about where this new fence Clyde has been working from." Bird said, motioning for him to start the car as she added, "I've crossed paths with him a few times and he's about as shady as they come, so it's really not a stretch to guess that for the right price he'd sell them to the killers."
Harvey stayed silent as he started the car and followed her instructions on where to go, but he kept glancing at her from the corner of his eye. He couldn't help but feel like her latest idea might lead them to a dead end, after all she'd bought the information off of the daughter of the man who'd been framed for her parents murders –and then was killed when the police tried to apprehend him.
~()~
When they pulled up around the side of the building where Bird learned Clyde was working out of, she started to open her door but Harvey stopped her as the sounds of close by gunfire cut through the night.
"What are you doing?" He asked, his tone frantic as he grabbed onto her arm to stop her from getting out of the car.
"Saving my brother." She answered with confidence in her tone, as she tried to get away but he stopped her again.
"We called Jim, he and Bullock are probably already here… can you not hear the gunshots?" He yelled at her, his eyes wide with fear that if she went into that building –she might not make it back out alive.
"I hear it." She nodded, jerking her arm away from his grip as she looked at him, her eyes bore into his as she said, "The shots are all coming from the front of the building, you'll probably be the safest staying right here. I'm going to save my brother."
As she got out of the car and started to cross the street she heard another car door shut and turned to see he was following her.
"What are you-"
"You're going to get yourself killed!" He whisper yelled at her, "If you're going in there then I'm coming with you."
"Harvey, listen to me." She hissed, stepping closer to him, "If we both go in there than I'm going to be worried about you and I need to solely focus on finding my brother and keeping myself alive along the way. You have to trust me."
He'd never seen such a serious look in her eyes before, it was clear she thought she was going to fare just fine against the trained killers in the building –she seemed so sure that it was almost enough for him to believe it too.
"Please!" She pleaded with him to stay outside of the building and safe while she went inside, her voice came out with a whimper of desperation and each passing second felt like she was running out of time.
"Promise me that if I let you go in there, you'll come back out in one piece." He helplessly breathed, his voice thick with defeat.
The only answer he got was a nod from Bird, before she took off running for the building and left him standing in the street with the feeling of his heart sinking into his stomach.
~()~
Using the dumpster next to the building as a means to boost herself up high enough, Bird grabbed onto the metal ladder from the fire escape and tried to pull it down, but when it wouldn't budge she used all of her upper-body strength to pull herself up onto the first metal landing.
Taking her jacket off, she balled it up around her hand and used it to break the window.
Hearing glass shattering, Bullock looked up from where he was taking cover behind his car from the criminals returning fire just in time to see Bird slip into the building through the now broken window.
"What the hell…" He breathed, shaking his head. It was just moments ago that Alfred had shot his way past a few of the men and entered the building. This was going to end badly, he thought, by the time the night was over they were sure to have a stack of bodies.
"Am I the only one who waits for back up in this town?" He muttered to himself.
Bird hadn't been inside the building for long, ducking in the shadows and keeping a close eye on her surroundings when she heard Alfred yell, "Bruce!" From the floor below, though she doubted if her brother was in the building that he'd be able to hear anything over the barrage of gun fire being exchanged out front, not to mention the several shots she'd heard on the level below.
Her eyes drifted up to the ceiling above her where she heard a noise comparable to heavy boxes being pushed across rough cement.
Quickly locating the stairs, she took them what felt like three at a time until she reached the top and stopped to looked around. Off to the right she caught the sight of old filing cabinets and boxes stacked up –an ideal place to try and hide for a terrified thirteen year old, she thought to herself.
Walking into the room, she scanned the floor in the moonlight from the window looking for shoe prints or drag marks through the dust coated surface. She didn't have much time in her search before she became aware of approaching footsteps from outside of the room.
Ducking down beside a dark filing cabinet, she raised up just far enough to see a man entering the room. She didn't see a weapon in his hands, but she had no doubt he probably had one on him.
Something she couldn't say for herself, she hadn't had the time to spare or time away from Harvey long enough to be able to arm herself.
Waiting until he started to walk past where she was crouched down, Bird swung her leg and brought him down with a hard thud and a groan.
Just as quickly as she moved to get to her feet, he was also standing back on his own two legs. Bird ducked to the side when the man took a swing at her, using the opportunity of his center being unguarded from the fight stance he'd taken, she made her own move with lightning fast speed, swinging her arm up and forcefully landing a hit with the heel of her palm to underneath his chin. His head snapped backwards from the force and he fell to the floor, out cold from the uppercut.
Bird spun around, ready to take on her next threat when she heard a box slide but quickly dropped her defensive pose when she saw it was her brother crawling out from his hiding place. Scrambling to his feet, Bruce raced to his older sister's side and threw his arms around her.
Wrapping an arm around him, she pulled in a relieved breath and silently thanked a God she wasn't sure she believed in for her brother being alive and unharmed.
"Where's Selina?" Bird asked, knowing they weren't out of danger just yet.
"She escaped through the window." He admitted. Knowing that the killers weren't after him, he'd created a distraction and ran in the opposite direction so Selina could slip out of the building unnoticed.
When her brother hugged her again, holding her tightly and thinking to himself that he'd never been happier to see her in his entire life. She gently pushed him back, with an apologetic look she said, "We're not in the clear yet. We still have to get out."
He nodded rapidly in response to her words, and she looked at him as she said, "I heard Alfred downstairs, if something happens –you need to run. Okay? Head for the stairs and don't look back, don't stop running until you either find Alfred or you get outside."
His eyebrows furrowed with fear as he realized she more or less meant if something happened to her, he was supposed to make a run for it.
"Okay?" She repeated in a gruff whisper and he gave a short nod in response.
"Stay behind me." She instructed, as she carefully made her way to the doorway and looked out.
As far as she could tell the path was clear, and she nodded for him to follow her. He'd stayed close behind her as they navigated their way down to the second floor, he tried to listen for footsteps, but the only thing he could hear was the sound of his rapidly beating heart seeming to be echoing around in his skull.
They picked up speed when they reached an empty hallway, but before they could make it to the end a man stepped out of one of the open doorways with a gun pointed at them.
Bird quickly came to a halt; throwing her arm out and pushing her brother back, where he stumbled and fell to the floor, she then stood in front of him using her own body to shield him from danger.
His eyes were wide with terror as he peeked around her to get a look at the gunman. She'd told him if they got into danger, he was supposed to run and in truth he wanted to. But in his mind all he could see was violent images of the night his parents had been killed right in front of him.
It almost felt like this night was a continuation from that –it seemed like his sister was about to meet the exact same fate and he hated himself for the paralyzed feeling setting in to his body, one that wouldn't even allow his vocal chords to work –let alone his legs or arms to move.
"Where's the girl?" The man questioned in a cold tone.
"What girl?" Bird replied with gravel in her voice.
The man scoffed, looking almost amused by her bravery, or in his mind stupidity.
Raising the gun higher he pointed it at the center of her forehead and said, "You've got one more chance, so think your answer over."
Glancing behind her to make sure her brother was still on the ground, Bird ducked her head knowing that when she grabbed his hands the gun was going to go off whether he'd mean for it to or not.
As she ducked out of the way, she reached up and grabbed tightly onto his hands as she lunged forward and kicked him in the groin. A shot was fired into the ceiling and he let out a loud pained groan from the kick she'd delivered, his body started to double over and she brought her knee up getting him square in the stomach. With that she was able to pull the gun from his hands and quickly used it to hit him as hard as she could on the side of his head.
Bruce stared in a state of complete shock as his eyes moved between where his sister was standing and where the man who'd threatened them was now motionless on the floor.
Keeping the gun on him, she kicked his side to make sure he really was unconscious and not planning a sneak attack on them.
"Let's go." She said extending a hand to her brother, who was still wearing a stunned expression as she helped get him to his feet.
Just as they reached the stairs to get down to the first floor, they met up with Alfred who was heading up to continue his search for Bruce.
"Alfred!" Bruce exclaimed, his voice cracking slightly before he cleared his throat and tried to make light of the situation, "Fancy seeing you here."
"You alright?" He questioned, looking between the siblings.
Bird nodded before she turned sideways and back against the wall to keep an eye for anyone trying to sneak up on them.
"I'm alright." Bruce answered, "How are you?"
With a smile, Alfred tucked the gun he'd been carrying into an interior pocket on his jacket and climbed up the stairs to where he was standing. "You really scared me, Master Bruce. If you die… well, who employees butlers anymore."
Bruce looked back to his sister who was still armed and watching out for all them, and then back to Alfred as he leaned forward and hugged him. He was safe, with both of them there, he finally felt safe again.
Bird watched them with a small smile on her lips. She didn't want to break up the moment but she was also aware that they still weren't out of danger.
"I've got two men out cold up here… we should probably get going before they start waking up." She announced.
"Right!" Alfred exclaimed, giving Bruce another tight squeeze before he stepped back and pulled his gun back out just in case they ran into any trouble.
Navigating their way through the first floor of the building, they quickly found Detective Gordon and his partner, Bullock. As the trio walked through the large open doorway into the room, Bullock looked up from where he was handcuffing someone and breathed, "I'll be damned."
Jim glanced at his partner and then followed his line of sight until he saw Bruce standing unharmed between Alfred and Bird. It felt like at least a hundred pounds had lifted off his shoulders and he exclaimed, "Oh, thank God."
"I'm glad you're alright." He said to Bruce as he walked up to them and looked him over.
"I'm fine." He assured him, looking to either side where Alfred and his sister were standing as he smiled and repeated, "I'm fine."
"I got this off one of the men." Bird said, spinning the gun in her hand and offering it to Jim with the handle towards him.
As he took the weapon from her she said, "I ran into trouble on the second and third floor, there's two guys-"
"Dead?" Jim guessed. He'd seen the violent way in which she handled situations before and this entire night could easily be claimed as self-defense.
"Out cold." Bird corrected with raised eyebrows before her gaze darted to where her little brother was standing.
Jim motioned to a couple officers and instructed them to do a sweep of the upper floors and arrest anyone they came across. Once they were gone he looked back to Bruce and asked, "What about Selina?"
"She got away." He answered, not giving much detail on how that had happened.
"Okay." Jim nodded, her being back out on the streets wasn't ideal, but it was certainly better than the worst case scenario.
"Let's get you all out of here." He said, managing a smile at them, before he pulled another officer to the side and asked him to give them a ride back to Wayne Manor.
The air outside felt much colder than when Bird had gone into the building, there was a bitterness in the night and the chill cut right through her clothes. As they came to a stop by the police car they'd been led too, she looked around and caught sight of Harvey standing next to his own car not far away from where they were.
Even at distance she could see the relieved look on his face. She knew she should go over there and talk to him, but for many reasons she couldn't. Her brother was safe now and that was all that really mattered, though she was still angry at Harvey for his involvement in the entire situation. He hadn't intentionally put her brother in danger, he didn't even know who the witness was at the time, let alone that she was staying at Wayne Manor –but he'd still made a stupid move and the night could have been ending in a very different way.
Plus, she'd seen the quizzical looks he'd been giving her all day when they were following leads around Gotham. She had a feeling he had several questions for her and she didn't have the energy to answer them, especially knowing the price she might pay for telling the truth. It could possibly cost her –her relationship with him.
Giving him a nod to let him know she was alright, Bird got into the backseat of the car with her brother and didn't look back as she waited for Alfred to get in up front and then the officer drove them away from the scene.
A/N - I hope you all liked the chapter! Bird is going to have some explaining to do the next time she talks to Harvey, huh?
Thanks to everyone who has followed and/or added this story to your favorites! ^_^
I'd also like to thank xxXWolfsLullabyXxx, MzzLightwood, Miss E Charlotte, SwingingOnAStar, Love. Fiction, 2016, and Captivating for the reviews on my last chapter. You guys are amazing for being so supportive!