LI
"There is no such thing as a "broken family." Family is family, and is not determined by marriage certificates, divorce papers, and adoption documents. Families are made in the heart. The only time family becomes null is when those ties in the heart are cut. If you cut those ties, those people are not your family. If you make those ties, those people are your family. And if you hate those ties, those people will still be your family because whatever you hate will always be with you." ― C. JoyBell C.
Barely missing countless flying bullets, Jim ducked behind the desk of the nurses station and lowered his head to shield his eyes from the shards of glass flying widely around him in the deserted wing of Gotham General.
He'd spent the bullets in the assault rifle already and had run out of ammo for both his service weapon and the other gun he'd been carrying.
The three guns he'd entered into the fight with were nothing compared to the machine guns Maroni's crew had been toting. Though, with what little defenses he had, he'd managed to drop several men.
Only now it seemed as though his luck had run out and every passing second was time borrowed from a clock whose time was running out.
Jim looked up to see one of Maroni's men standing above him and the barrel of a gun aimed between his own eyes.
If there was still gunfire riddling the hospital walls and furniture with bullet holes, then he was no longer aware of the sound. Around him the earth had fell into a deafening silence, the kind that left his ears with the feeling of being plugged with cotton.
The next and only sound he heard was a single gunshot, so loud he'd have sworn the sound alone was enough to make his ears bleed, followed by a few moments of complete and utter confusion –until he saw the man's body fall to the floor with a trail of blood seeping from the single hole in his forehead.
Jim managed to pull in a breath which seemed to restore the chaotic sounds around him.
It had be Bullock, he thought. His partner had somehow gotten there with backup in just the nick of time.
Or so he was convinced until Bird jumped over the desk and dropped down next to him, leaning her head back against the wood she caught her breath and turned to face him as she stated, "You're welcome, you know… for saving your life –again."
"How many more are there?" Jim finally asked when he managed to find his voice.
"I saw at least three men headed this way." Bird explained, "I was going to go after them, but then you had a gun to your head, so…"
"Let me see that." He nodded to the gun in her hands and when she held it out to him, he saw there were two rounds left in the clip and one in the chamber.
"Three bullets." He sighed, before his eyes landed on the gun he'd nearly been killed with, which was laying a little too far out of reach to easily snatch up without being seen and shot in the process.
"Guess we're in luck then, huh?" Bird swallowed.
Seeing the look Jim shot her she reminded him, "Three men."
"And only three bullets." Jim pointed out, "That doesn't leave any room for error and they're all heavily armed."
"One bullet –one kill." Bird replied, ducking down further as the armed men started to rip apart more of the furniture around them with gun shots. Maroni's men knew they had them cornered and trapped, but instead of going right in for the kill –they were taunting them.
"You make it sound so easy." Jim mumbled, as he adjusted the gun in his hand and prepared to face the men down.
"Give me the gun." Bird said, holding out her hand.
"Right-" Jim started to scoff, but Bird didn't give him much chance for an argument when she pointed out, "I know I'm probably not your first choice for an ally, but I'm all you've got."
Seeing his reluctance to hand over their only weapon, she asked, "When Victor Zsasz came for you at the police station, you got into a gun fight and who won?" Pausing for a breath she reminded him, "Victor did and I have been training and working with him for months."
"We need to get that other gun." Jim said; nodding to where it lay out in the open on the floor outside of the desk area.
"I'll cover you." Bird offered, her extended hand still waiting for the gun, she promised, "I've got your back. You're just going to have to trust me."
Their eyes met and after a brief pause of hesitation, he handed their only means of survival over to someone who, a year ago, he wouldn't have even trusted to water plants –let alone have his back in a gun fight.
Funny how fast things can change in a city like Gotham.
Here he was, fighting for his life after the police commissioner had thrown him to Maroni's goons and the person who'd just saved his life was a self-admitted criminal.
"On my count." Jim began, watching as Bird adjusted the gun in her hands and they both moved into better positions to make a move from, "One…two…three!"
On his count, they both sprang into action, Jim dove for the assault weapon that had been dropped to the floor as Bird fluidly moved along with him. Shielding and protecting him as she fired all the rounds left in the stolen handgun, until they both took cover behind the other side of the nurses station.
"I think one of them is still alive." Bird admitted, tossing the now empty gun onto the floor beside her and looking over at Jim when he nodded, "We have to get Falcone and the others and get out of this hospital. They'll just keep sending in more men."
Bird nodded in complete agreement, though internally she wondered if Oswald had already taken the opportunity to flee.
As they both left the small bit of safety the desk provided, they started to make their way back down the correct hallway, with Jim shooting and killing the man Bird had left standing.
Seeing movement from the corner of his eye, Jim spun and pointed the gun when someone stepped out from behind a large support column.
"Jim! Jim! Don't shoot, it's me!" Bullock called out, holding his hands up in surrender.
Jim blew out a breath and lowered the gun, while Bird stayed alert of their surroundings.
"Don Maroni and a crew of men are headed here now." Bullock warned, lowering his arms and surveying the bloody mess of bodies littering the floor around them.
"Backup?" Jim asked as he walked closer to him.
"It's just me partner." Bullock explained, "Look, there are ambulances in the basement. Where's Falcone?"
"Yeah…" Jim sighed, "Uh, about that. We gotta take Penguin and Gilzean too."
"Penguin and Gilzean?" Bullock complained, thinking it was going to be hard enough trying to get just them out of the hospital alive. Why waste more time trying to bring criminals to safety?
"No one gets left behind." Bird argued.
"I arrested them for attempted murder, they're both in my custody." Jim admitted.
"You!" Harvey yelled in shock at his partner, followed by a string of inaudible frustrated noises, "I don't have time to argue with you! Let's just go."
~()~
Several more minutes passed until all sounds of gunfire ceased and the group in the hospital room exchanged looks, each of them wondering if it was worth the risk of going out into the hallway; while Oswald also contemplated making another attempt on Falcone's life.
"We've gotta move!" Jim yelled as he walked into the room with Bird right on his heels.
"Bird!" Oswald breathed with a sigh of relief at seeing his best friend was alive and uninjured.
There was a glint of pride in his eye, as Falcone looked to Bird and questioned, "Are they all dead?"
"This batch of them, yeah." She nodded, and Jim added "We need to get to the basement, our best chance at getting out is an ambulance."
His eyes landed on Butch and Oswald and remembering he hadn't freed them he asked, "How did you…"
When they both looked at Bird, he blew out a sigh realizing when she'd bumped into him earlier it was to lift the key from him.
"Come on!" Bullock yelled, popping his head into the room and reminding them, "Elevators are to the left."
After a mad dash to the basement, they'd stolen a set of keys to an ambulance and everyone piled in.
"Get down!" Jim yelled to everyone else in the ambulance with him, as he drove up the hill from basement parking and spotted Salvatore Maroni with several armed men as they closed in on the hospital.
He stepped on the gas and tried to get them out of there as fast as possible, while Maroni's men opened fire on the emergency vehicle.
Once they were out of sight and far out of range of the flying bullets, Jim pulled off into an alleyway just out of sight from the main road and questioned, "Where to?"
"We need a place to regroup." Bullock pointed out, "The hits aren't gonna stop coming now."
"He's right." Falcone agreed with a single nod. All eyes fell on the Mafia Don and it didn't take him long to formulate a plan. "I know just the place."
With Bullock being more knowledgeable about the streets of Gotham than Jim was, he took over the driver's seat and Falcone moved up to sit by him and steer him in the right direction.
Jim handcuffed Oswald and Butch together again, despite their protests, before he sat down next to Bird in the back of the ambulance.
"Are you really going to arrest them?" Bird asked, looking over to the exhausted detective.
"I have to." He pointed out, "I witnessed them trying to kill someone."
"But you have to know it's a losing fight, Jim." A smirk spread over her lips as she taunted, "I mean really, it's just going to come back looking bad on you. I know some pretty powerful defense attorneys and which judges can be bought. I'll make sure both of them get off on some technicality or with barely a slap on the wrist –and that is of course if this case ever even sees a courtroom in the first place-"
It was clear to see that she was yet again trying to find a way to get under his skin; choosing to ignore her antics, Jim looked around the ambulance before asking in a quiet voice, "Why'd you do it? You'd already gotten the key to free your friends, you could have just taken them and slipped out of a back exit."
"Maybe Oswald and Butch weren't my only friends in danger." She nonchalantly answered, but Jim wasn't going to let it go so easily.
"I remember a time when you wanted to kill me because you though I'd killed Oswald." Jim reminded her, pausing for a mere few seconds before adding, "I also seem to recall a time when you told me, to my face, that my life didn't hold much value to you. Then today, instead of staying with him or getting him to safety, you came to my aid."
"Oswald still comes first. Don't get it twisted." Bird quietly huffed at him, "He means more to me than you can even imagine and I will always look out for him first."
"But still." He pointed out, "You came back to help me when you could have easily fled."
"Can't you just let it go? Just be thankful that we're all still alive and breathing?"
"No."
Bird's eyes narrowed as she accused, "Dog with a bone… just can't let anything go."
A look of seriousness fell over her features and she argued, "It doesn't matter anyways."
"Maybe it does matter-" Jim started to point out, but didn't get to further his case when Bird insisted, "It doesn't-"
"Maybe that's not all for you to decide-" He started to cut in.
"What do you want me to say?" She whisper-yelled at him.
"The truth."
His answer sounded so simple, when the question felt anything but.
"The truth is –is that it really doesn't matter." She argued, her forehead started to line when she shook her head back and forth and blurted out, "Maybe it's the same reason why you trusted me to cover you back there when we were under fire. Or the reason why I've repeatedly put my neck out on the line for you, or the same reason you kissed me that day at the hospital."
Swallowing hard her eyes met his and she whispered, "The reasons aren't important, Jim. Because when the sun sets; you're still a cop and I'm still a criminal. When this is all over, you're going to go home to Lee and I promised Harvey that I was coming back to him."
Pulling her gaze away from him, she crossed her arms over her chest and slid down on the uncomfortable built in seating in the back of the ambulance while he continued to stare at her with his mouth hanging slightly open.
He needed to say something, anything, he thought. Needed to acknowledge the answer that he'd practically forced out of her, but the truth was he didn't even know where to begin.
He never really knew when it came to Bird.
~()~
Bird looked up to where her wrists were bound with a rope that was attached to a hook, she had Jim on one side of her and Oswald on the other.
It had felt like they were home free by the time they reached the old automotive warehouse Falcone had directed them too. It was a wonder that both they and the ambulance was still in on piece after driving through the rapid gunfire around the hospital that was crawling with Maroni's men.
Once they'd finally reached the warehouse; what was supposed to be their safe haven had unfortunately turned into a trap they'd all willingly walked into.
A trap set by none other than Fish Mooney herself.
Oswald looked over to where Fish was talking to Butch and then to Bird as he let out a sigh and stropped struggling against the ropes that bound his wrists together and remained latched on the heavy hook.
"Bird." He said, getting his best friend's attention.
"Oswald?" She replied, looking over at him.
"I'd just like to say that…" Clearing his throat he shifted his stance trying to alleviate some of the pressure off his bad leg and continued, "In light of recent events, I want you to know that I forgive your betrayals."
"My betrayals?" She scoffed, looking at him. "I didn't betray you."
"You stopped me from killing Don Falcone." He reminded her.
"Yes, for personal reasons." She nodded, "But it's not like I said we needed to let him go free. We could have locked him up somewhere for the time being." She whispered to him.
"The way you stormed into that room, it felt like you had turned against me." He admitted, his voice quiet, "Like my only friend in the world had turned their back on me."
Bird reminded him, "I may not have been on board with killing Don Falcone, but that doesn't change anything between me and you. I was still going to help you take over Gotham."
Managing a smile in spite of their dire situation, he stammered, "Well, if w-we must die today, than I'm glad to not be alone. It has been an honor knowing you –our years of friendship have been a treasure to me and-"
With a small smile she said, "Yes, Oswald you're my best friend and I love you too."
"Ah, come on!" Bullock complained from where he was tied up on the other side of Oswald, "If I'm gonna die today, the last thing I wanna do is be stuck next to you saps."
Rolling her eyes, Bird looked past her best friend to the annoyed detective and pointed out, "As if Fish is really going to kill you anyways."
As Selina came over to look the captives over, Jim asked, "Selina, what are you doing here?"
"Chillin', how about you?" She replied with a newfound cockiness in her tone.
"Kinda jammed up." Jim answered, nodding to where his wrists were bound.
"Yeah…" Selina nodded, "That's too bad."
When Jim kept making different facial expressions at her and nodding towards the ropes, she laughed, "Oh, that's mime for 'help us out here'?" she guessed
Jim gave a wide, toothy smile and nodded but Selina shot his hopes down, "And totally blow the coolest gig ever, just because we kinda/sorta know each other?"
"A little help here…" Jim groaned, looking over to Bird.
"Oh no, I'm not going to beg for my life." Bird said, looking back to him. "It's a wasted effort and I'll take what I've got coming to me."
Directing her gaze at Selina, she continued, "And… if I do get killed here today, I'll just take comfort in knowing that it will slowly eat away at you for the rest of your life. Every single time you look into my brother's eyes, they'll remind you of mine and it will haunt you –knowing that you played a part in taking away one of the last remaining members of his family. It will chip away at you day-by-day and piece-by-piece until you can't take it anymore." Locking eyes with the young teenager, Bird's tongue sharply formed every syllable as she said, "I will haunt you."
The smile fell from Selina's lips and she took a few stumbling steps back with her face seeming to grow paler by the second, before she turned and just walked away.
Out of the corner of his eye, Jim caught a hint of a smile on Bird's lips as her dimples showed.
"This is funny to you?" He whispered-yelled, "She might have been our only chance at getting out of here."
"She's just a kid, Jim." Bird pointed out, "Fish dressed her up in nice new clothes, gave her a place to belong and I know better than anyone how Fish can make you feel special. To someone like Selina…" Her voice trailed off and she shrugged, "We're going to have to find our way out of this."
"Do you see anyone around here willing to help us?" He hissed.
"I might have a plan." Bird whispered back, leaning as close as she could to him so none of Fish's lackeys would hear her.
"Care to elaborate on this plan?" Jim asked, unable to tell if it was just smoke in mirrors or if she really had figured a way out of the seemingly impossible mess they'd all gotten into.
But the only answer he got was Bird vaguely replying, "I made a promise to Harvey that I'd come back in on piece and I really hate breaking promises."
One thing about Bird that always burrowed deep inside of him, was how she seemed to never take anything seriously at all.
Even in these situations of life and death, she'd rather joke and taunt Selina then to actually come up with a feasible plan.
Bird looked back up to the ropes binding her wrists and sized up the small army of followers that Fish had managed to get on her side.
The truth was, she had no idea how this was going to pan out. She hoped there would be a point where everyone would be distracted and she could slip out of the ropes and free the others, but she also knew there was a very big possibility that she might not make it out of this one.
Maybe that was fate, she considered, with so many close calls in her life –maybe her number was finally up.
With that thought she looked over to Oswald with a sadness in her eyes while he continued to wriggle around, trying desperately to get the rope off of the hook to free himself.
Maybe they had both truly reached the end of the road –though as sad as it was, she had to admit that somewhere deep down; a part of her was okay with that.
She'd rather die by his side then go on seeing another sunrise in a world without him in it.
Her eyes pinned shut as thoughts of Harvey crossed her mind; of how her life had seemed to be finally falling into place. She'd had a man who loved her and wanted to marry her, they had a beautiful house and she'd left all of that behind to run back into danger salvaging parts of the life she'd sworn to him that she was leaving behind.
It hurt to admit it, but maybe there was some validity to what he was saying before she'd left.
Ever more painful to admit was that in her leaving, she knew very well that despite the promise she made, there was a chance that she really might not make it back to him.
Either because she'd be dead, or because she couldn't truly leave the person she was in the past.
It was something she didn't want to face, let alone even admit to herself, but walking out the doors of their house and leaving with only a promise to return when it was all over –she had to face down the truth that there was a part of her, even if it was only a tiny spec, that was okay with not walking back into the life she'd been trying to build with him.
Fish watched as Bird appeared deep in thought over something, probably trying to figure herself a way out of this. Her eyes drifted over to where Oswald was beside Bird, frantically trying to weasel his way out of the situation. Typical; she thought to herself as she walked over to them.
She hadn't been back in Gotham very long, but her return had been fruitful to say the least. She'd gotten an army behind her, gotten her hands on a nice cache of weapons and was plotting an attack against Falcone –when low and behold, he'd walked right onto her door step.
Things couldn't be turning out more perfect for her and in her mind she didn't just deserve a piece of the pie; she'd earned the whole damn thing.
After escaping Gotham, the ship she'd been on had been overrun and seized by pirates, she'd fought with everything in her, but in the end had been knocked unconscious and woke up sometime later imprisoned with other people in a dark and dank basement surrounded by filth.
Though she didn't know it at that time, she was out in the middle of nowhere, on an island of horrors owned and operated by Dr. Dulmacher –known as the Dollmaker. She'd killed the head prisoner in charge and gotten all of the other prisoners to follow her.
As it turned out, they were all only being used for spare parts. Some of their organs were being sold to the highest bidder, while others were simply taken apart for the Dollmaker's own experiments.
Her plan of organizing the others was going swimmingly until one of the on-site mangers had been given orders to remove her eyes for business purposes. Something she wasn't about to let happen after she made a promise to herself so long ago that no man would ever be above her.
No, she'd do anything it took to stand up to them and get her way.
Knowing they'd want a set of matching eyes, she did the only thing she knew how would prevent them from getting what they wanted –she'd cut out her own left eyeball and even stepped on it once it landed on the floor; ensuring that it would be of no use to them.
It had seemed like the end of life as she knew it in those moments; feeling a sense of powerlessness that she'd sworn she'd never know again.
But now here she stood, back home in Gotham, with a new bright blue eye that Dr. Dulmacher had given her. She'd fought her way off that island, nearly being killed in the process, but she hadn't surrendered. Never given in or given up and she'd made it home, just like she said she would.
Even after all the betrayal, she could still recognize traces of herself in Bird. Out of everyone tied up in front of her, she knew that if any of them would make it out this ordeal –it would be Bird. She was a fighter; through and through. Fish had seen it many times, and just like herself, she knew Bird wouldn't ever give up.
With those thoughts on her mind, she stepped closer to where everyone was tied up and considered how the smart decision would have been to go ahead and kill Bird, or at least add some extra ropes and chains to keep her down.
Looking down to the ground, Fish considered that maybe a part of her was hoping that her once favorite employee would somehow escape with her life.
Clearing her throat and putting her game face back on, Fish greeted, "Hello fellas!"
Her eyes scanned back and forth across her prisoners before she stopped on Bird and said with a sadness in her voice, "Hello again, baby girl."
"Wish I could say it's good to see you again, Fish… but I'm done with all the lies." Bird replied, swallowing hard as she spoke and wishing that her former boss hadn't returned to Gotham for a variety of reasons.
Fish gave her a less than friendly smile, before walking over to where Falcone was the first in line of everyone with their wrists bound, "Carmine…" Walking past Jim and Bird, she stopped in front of Oswald who was back to frantically trying to get his wrists unbound, "Penguin, nothing to share?"
When no one would speak to her she nodded and started to pace in front of them as she proudly said, "Well, I have a little something to share. I just made a sweet deal with Maroni. He just told me I could have all my territories back and all I have to do in return is give him Carmine's head."
Completely overwhelmed from the internal conflict of having Fish back and being programmed to blindly follow Oswald's orders, Butch's head was pounding. Walking up to his former boss he said, "Uh, Fish… I need to go lie down."
Oswald let out an irritated sigh as he watched him go.
"What did you do to that poor soul, you sick sadist?" Fish asked, as she focused her attention on Oswald.
"I assure you-" He stammered, but didn't get a chance to finish as Fish pointed one of her artificial nails at him that had a very sharp tip and a spiked ball decoration on it. His eyes widened as he backed away from the threatening metal nail.
"You will die a slow and painful death for what you did to Butch!" She snapped, spinning on her heels and pointing to Falcone as she added, "You too, Carmine."
Walking over to Jim she looked him over as she said, "You…" Giving some thought to what should happen to him she said, "We'll keep it simple."
Eyeing Bird, she walked past her down to where Bullock was tied up and said, "We're cool." Snapping her fingers, she watched as one of her people came over to cut the detective down and lead him away from the others so he wouldn't be tempted to help them.
Slowly walking back to Bird, Fish asked, "Didn't I warn you this would happen? Didn't I tell you that I would be back and if you were still aligned with Penguin, you'd wind up dead?"
"You did." Bird nodded.
"But you didn't listen." Fish sighed, "Your loyalty is almost unmatched… but, what a shame it is that –that loyalty lies with someone so…" Eyeing Oswald from the corner of her eye she added, "Undeserving."
A look of pain was present on both of their faces as the two women stared one another down. It would hurt, Fish thought to herself, killing or having Bird killed would hurt like hell.
Reaching up she patted the side of Bird's face, before calling out her fate, "We'll keep it simple… and fast." Letting out a sigh she pulled her hand back and admitted, "You're breaking my heart."
"Fish." Falcone finally spoke up in the hopes of saving someone else, even though he knew his own fate was sealed, "Let her go. This is a rivalry between us, it doesn't really concern her."
"I'm not about to beg for my own life." Bird said, leaning her head forward and look past Jim to where she could see Falcone as she added, "So I certainly don't need you to do it for me."
Ignoring what she said to him, Falcone resumed trying to reason with Fish, "We both know how much you care about her. How much you love her… just let her go."
Abruptly turning her head, Fish stared at him as she conceded, "I do love her; watching her die will be like chopping off one of my own limbs."
Pausing for a moment, she then argued, "But one can live without a limb, especially when that limb has an infection and does nothing weaken the body."
"Fish-" Falcone sighed, but didn't get to say much else as she walked up to him and asked, "What is it about her, huh? See, that's what I've been having trouble trying to figure out. You were ready to see us all burn after Liza… everyone one of us except for Bird."
Stepping closer and getting in his face, each word was sharply syllabled as she slowly asked, "Why does she mean so much to you?"
Oswald's hair fell into his eyes as he looked around, desperately trying to figure a way out of his current predicament.
When Falcone didn't give Fish the answer she wanted –or any answer at all, Oswald looked over to where Bird was next to him, before he called out, "He's her father!"
When Bird whipped her head around and shot him a look, all he could do was offer a helpless shrug. If by some chance Fish would let Bird free, then he was sure she'd come to his rescue and also free him.
"Isn't that something?" Fish exclaimed, taking several steps backwards and looking between Falcone and Bird, clearly shocked from the newly learned intel. "I'll be damned…" She breathed.
~()~
It wasn't much later that a few cars pulled up and Don Maroni got out of one, leading his own group of followers to the gathering.
"So there he is!" Fish called out, smiling to the crime boss.
Moving closer to the action as he eyed the group of four captives, he turned his attention back to her he said, "Fish, you mysterious, crazy, gorgeous killer you. I love you." With that he leaned in and gave her an embrace, but she remained still; standing like a stone in his arms.
Walking up to where Falcone was bound, Maroni's smile grew, "This… this is delicious. Finally, you're hard to kill old man."
"No." Don Falcone argued, "Your people are second rate."
Jim looked between where Bird was on one side of him and Falcone on the other.
It wasn't so hard to believe they were related and he could see the resemblance; neither of them appeared to be very rattled or shaken from what was happening, a complete contrast to Oswald who was breathing erratically while trying to escape his rope bindings.
"Miss Mooney, if I may… a brief word." Oswald stammered, "I –I I know my life is forfeit, I speak not for my own sake… but for yours, because after all, I still love and respect you."
"Go on." She humored him.
"Kill me if you must, but keep Falcone alive. As soon as he's dead; Maroni has no use for you. You are simply a threat." Oswald cried, nodding frantically along with his own words, "He will kill you!"
"Woah!" Maroni yelled, trying to silence him.
"You think?" Fish asked.
"Why would he need another boss in town? Another rival?" Oswald tried to reason.
"That's where you're wrong, smart guy. She's not a rival because she's not a boss, she's an underboss." Maroni argued, but used the wrong choice of words and Fish stated, "An underboss takes orders… I don't take orders."
"I know that." Maroni said, "We're cool. Relax."
"I'm relaxed." Fish said, doing her best to keep her anger in check.
"You don't look relaxed, babes." He argued with her.
Bird looked around, seeing that everyone was watching the disagreement between Fish and Maroni, she knew now was her chance to make her move.
Taking in a deep breath, she kept her core tight as she used all over her upper body strength to grasp onto the chain of the hook her ropes were secured on and raised the lower half of her body all the way up until she was able to hook her knees on the horizontal wood post at the top.
Oswald and Jim both stared up to her as she managed to quickly slide the ropes binding her wrists off the hook, before lowering herself back down and looking around to make sure no one had spotted her.
Luckily; everyone else was still watching the argument taking place, as Maroni tried to tell Fish that 'babes' was a term of endearment, that it meant he liked her.
When Fish said that they were partners, Maroni proceeded to try and humiliate her by making her repeat after him that he was partner number one and she was partner number two.
Bird could tell her former boss was about to let her lose the leash she'd been keeping on her anger, she'd only play along with his antics for so long before the top would blow and she'd lash out.
Knowing that the second she helped Oswald out of his ropes, he'd make a run for it and draw attention, Bird knelt down and pulled the knife out of her boot that she'd tucked away in a special sewn in interior pocket and got to work cutting Jim free.
Careful to avoid attention, Jim moved slowly and carefully keeping his eyes peeled for anyone who might be watching them.
Once he was free, Bird handed the knife to him and he cut the ropes on her wrists. Once she was completely freed, she took her knife back from him and Jim dropped down to the floor to retrieve the knife from Falcone's sock, that he'd told him about having earlier.
"What are you waiting for?" Oswald whispered, staring at Bird with wide eyes and not understanding why she hadn't freed him yet.
"Shh!" She hissed, before looking over to see Jim was already at work on cutting Falcone's ropes.
Just as she started to free her friend, there was a loud gunshot and they all looked to see Maroni's lifeless body fall to the floor from a single shot to the head –a shot delivered from Fish's gun.
After the few seconds of initial shock faded, everyone sprang into action. Bullock raced for Jim to help him get Falcone freed and lead them away from danger, while Maroni's men instantly retaliated against Fish and her crew as they charged at them.
Lifting the clip, Bird slid Oswald's ropes off the hook and grabbed onto his arm as she dragged him away from immediate danger and beside a partly disassembled car.
Scrambling to cut the ropes from his wrist she said, "I bet Maroni's men left the keys in their cars. If we can make it to one of them we can get out of here."
"No." Oswald said, his entire body shaking from adrenaline as he said with conviction, "Maroni is dead and I'm not leaving here until Fish has joined him. This is my time… I'm going to be the king."
With that Oswald darted off as fast as he could to pick up one of the fallen weapons and go after his former boss.
With a groan, Bird jumped up fought her way through the crowd trying to find her friend but it had turned into complete chaos. It seemed like people were fighting just to fight, blindly throwing punches, firing guns and swishing knives through the air.
Somehow she made it through and stumbled out of a side exit, where she found Jim, Bullock and Falcone crouched down in front of a large truck trying to stay out of sight.
Dropping onto the ground with them, she asked, "Did Oswald go past here?"
Jim shook his head back and forth; the last thing he had time to do was worry about Oswald.
"If we can get to seventh avenue without being spotted by Fish's people, we're home free." Jim thought out loud, trying to hatch a plan.
"Then what?" Bullock asked, trying to catch his breath.
"We find a safe place… regroup." Looking towards Falcone Jim added, "Maroni's death is a lucky break for you.
"Spoken like a true Mafioso." Falcone breathed, leaning back against the truck and struggling for his breath.
Bird glanced at him, remembering the day in the car when he'd told her the same thing.
"The least worst option." Jim nodded, "Like you said, without you this city falls apart."
"Yes, I said that." Falcone nodded, "And it might be true, but this has been a long day and I've had a long time to look at this world I've created." Looking to Bird, he admitted, "I'm done with this business. I'm out."
"You're done?" Jim exclaimed.
"I know, I'm letting you down and I'm letting this city down." Falcone nodded.
Turning his attention to Bird he said, "But I have let you down most of all. My dear, you will never truly know how sorry I am for everything. I wish I had time to right all of my wrongs, but…" His voice trailed off and he blew out a breath as he repeated, "I'm sorry."
Hearing voices outside with them, Bird gave a small nod to Falcone before she turned to Jim and said, "Look, my guess is Maroni's men left the keys in the cars from when they pulled up. If you guys can make it to one of them, you can get out of here."
"I'm leaving Gotham." Falcone announced, "I have a place down south where I can go… it's on the beach." Feeling like he already knew the answer to the question before it was spoken, he offered, "You could come with me, if you'd like."
"Thanks for the offer, but I think it's little too late for you to start playing dear ol' dad." Bird declined.
If she ever did leave Gotham, it was going to be on her own terms and no one elses, but for now her concern was making sure Oswald lived to see the sunrise.
"You have to get to one of those cars." Bird said as the voices outside drew closer.
"You're not coming with us?" Jim asked, as he grabbed her arm to keep her low when she started to stand up.
"No." Bird answered, "I'm not leaving without Oswald."
"With an attitude like that and a friend like Penguin –you're going to get yourself killed." Falcone warned her.
"Yeah… probably." Bird agreed, checking their surroundings before she looked to Falcone and said, "Goodbye, Don Falcone."
Without giving any of them a chance to respond she stood up and raced back towards the warehouse.
~()~
Breathing heavily through the pain as she climbed the seemingly never ending metal stairs leading to the roof, Bird paused on the landing then doubled over in pain as she clutched onto her wounded side. Gripping onto the metal railing, she moved the hand she'd been holding over the knife wound and saw her hand was covered in blood.
Letting out a pained, but determined scream she continued on her way up the stairs. It wasn't long after she'd gone back in the building that she'd gotten into fight with a few of Maroni's men, she'd been able to drop one pretty quickly, but before she could bring down the other one he'd swiped a knife that cut through her clothes into her arm and then managed to plunge the blade into her side.
The noise and crowd had seemed to die down, nearly everyone that hadn't fled when the fight first started, was either dead, badly injured or just too tired to keep momentum.
The cold air that hit her face when she pushed open the door to the roof stole her breath, but gave her a temporary distraction from the sharp, unrelenting waves of pain rolling through her body.
Making her way across the roof, she followed sounds of fighting and yelling until she saw Fish and Oswald, each with their hands wrapped around the other one's throats and Butch looking like he was on the edge of a breakdown as he pointed a gun at them.
"Butch!" Fish called out, "About time."
"Shoot her, Butch!" Oswald yelled.
"Oh, really?" Fish scoffed.
"Do as I say, Butch. Shoot her!"
"What are you doing? Drop him!"
"My friend, remembering your training I order you to shoot her!"
"Butch, don't listen to him. He's done something to your mind. I'm your girl, remember I'm your girl!"
"Kill her now!"
Their voices and demands were getting mixed inside of Butch's head, too chaotic to think straight and it was a struggle of his mind against his heart. It became increasingly harder to breath, and his ears began to ring long before he ever pulled the trigger. He was only vaguely aware of the kickback from the shots fired, before the gun fell to the ground and his head finally started to clear.
He saw Oswald laying on the ground and Fish holding onto her bleeding leg as she cried out in pain; it was then he realized that he'd shot the both of them.
"Oh my god! What have I done?" He called out, rushing to help Fish keep her footing as he apologized, "I'm so sorry, I would never hurt you… I love you Fish!"
"It's okay, it's not your fault. I love you too." Fish said, tears burning her eyes as she spoke to him, "They messed with your mind, it's not your fault."
Bird leaned back against an electrical unit and tried to catch her breath, but she was starting to feel light headed and even if she'd wanted to intervene with what was happening –she was out of strength and fight to do so.
With a battle cry on his lips, Oswald pulled himself back off the ground and hit Butch in the back with a plank of wood he'd came across and knocked him down.
"Goodbye, Fish!" He shouted, unable to stand still from both the pain he was in from the bullet wound and the new rush of adrenaline he was feeling.
"It's all good." Fish said, preparing her stance for another fight.
But Oswald came at her faster and with much more strength than she expected, not being too far away from the ledge it didn't take much for him to throw her off the roof.
Bird ran past where Butch was still laying on the ground, tears in his eyes as he watched Fish fall over the side.
Bird made it to the side just in time to see Fish's body break the surface of the water and her screaming stopped. Closing her eyes she lowered her head, there was no way anyone could have survived a fall like that –not already being wounded and hitting the water as violently as she did.
Oswald looked over to where Bird was standing as he breathed, "I'm the King of Gotham…" Managing to pull himself up on the ledge he looked up to the dark, overcast night sky that shadowed the city he now owned.
Throwing his arms out to the sides; he took a breath of the freezing air and declared, "I'm the King of Gotham!" His body trembled as he used every last ounce of his strength to scream the words out again and again, each time tasted sweeter than the last, "I'M THE KING OF GOTHAM!"
It hurt her to know that Fish was truly gone, but she considered that maybe it was for the best. She was never going to stop coming after Oswald and her death, along with Falcone fleeing the city meant it was all truly over.
They'd defied all odds and managed to take over the city, a city she'd gladly let Oswald have control over, while she'd get to taste freedom and no longer be living under anyone's thumb.
Looking back up to where Oswald was still up on the ledge, relishing in his victory she turned and headed back towards the stairs. Even after everything they'd gone though, she still considered him her best and closest friend and while there had been talk between the pair of breaking ties when their plan had succeeded; she didn't see that happening.
She'd leave it up to him, she thought as she started to walk away. If he wanted to still have her in his life, then he'd either come after her or reach out to her soon.
With one last look at him, she hoped that things would start to settle for them both soon and they could find a way to keep their friendship intact –despite wanting to lead two very different lives.
A/N- Ahh! Guys, there is just one more chapter left to post for this season! I can't believe it, it feels like it wasn't so long ago that I was plotting and writing this season.
I hope you'll all follow along with Bird's story in the sequel –which I'll have more details for after the next chapter.
I want to thank Shadow knight1121, SwingingOnAStar, Melody Jane and Guestz for reviewing the last chapter. Also, a shout-out to Miss E Charlotte, as she works on getting caught back up. :)
Also, to answer Guestz's question and in case anyone else was wondering the same thing; I don't really have a set schedule that I stick to with updating. I know I probably should, but life always seems to hectic anymore that I do the best I can to keep the chapters coming. Lol. That being said, I nearly always post a chapter during the weekend days.
Happy New Year to you all!
xx
