"I cannot believe you allowed Malcolm to go out to that cabin!"
"Jess…" She cut Gil one of her dark looks, letting him know in clear and certain terms she wouldn't be placated. Not by him, anyway. "I didn't let Bright do anything."
He'd been against Bright going, in fact. The woman seated on the couch and the one on the phone with her younger brother overrode him.
"Why is he heading out to this cabin then?" Jessica's heels clacked on the wood floor as she paced back and forth across her living room. "What were you thinking in letting him go? Especially by himself."
"That he'd find a way to go anyway?" Gil answered truthfully. "Bright tends to do whatever he wants, Jess."
A fact the kid proved when he slipped his ankle monitor and went to see Sterling.
"Yes," Jessica huffed. Equal parts vexation and frustration. Something Bright tended to cause quite regularly. "He got that regrettable trait from his father."
Gil and Sorcha, the only other occupants in the living room at that moment, looked at each other, sharing the same thought about where Bright got his impulsive nature from.
"We can't keep Malcolm a prisoner in this house, Jessica." Sorcha utilized the tone she used whenever Bright's anxiety got the better of him. Unfortunately, Jessica wouldn't be as easily placated as her son. "We have to let him do more than sit here on the couch and go through my father's notes on his father and Endicott."
"Going through those notes keeps Malcolm safe."
"Yes, it does," Sorcha agreed with a slight nod. "Being safe is not how Malcolm tends to operate, however."
A white board and a file the size of a textbook in a cabinet in Gil's office bore testament to how the kid didn't understand the concept of playing it safe.
"Why?" Jessica spun to face her. "Why must he insist on doing things that cause him injury?"
"Because Malcolm sees it as a price worth paying if it means saving somebody from being tortured or killed."
"It's what makes Malcolm the man he is," Gil added. "Confirms he isn't like his father."
"Despite the dope being convinced he is."
The way she said it, that small verbal explosion, dredged up memories of past conversations. Malcolm thinking he was his father was a point of contention between the two. Along with the kid being broken. Sorcha never agreed with Bright on that particular opinion, either.
"I've told him he isn't like his father," Jessica said. "Same as you."
"And a part of Malcolm knows that's true," Sorcha replied. "However, the part of him conditioned by Martin Whitly refuses to accept it as truth. That little boy believes what his father told him about them being the same. That's why it's crucial for Malcolm to be involved in proving his innocence."
"How does proving his innocence help him with seeing he's not like that man?"
"Because it's not just his life and reputation that's being stolen from him here. It's also a part of his identity. The one piece of Malcolm that isn't shaped by Martin Whitly."
"Gil did more to shape that part of Malcolm than Martin did."
"And helping allows him to take back what Endicott and the Court is trying to take from Malcolm: himself."
"Isn't that what you called Raya for help with?" Jessica demanded as she continued to pace in small, tight circles. "To stop Nicholas and this Court?"
Gil understood Jessica wanted to do nothing more than protect her children from the people trying to hurt them.
Only, she couldn't keep Malcolm or Ainsley safe.
Not this time.
Her immense wealth and the Milton name and social standing weren't enough to stop Endicott. The man had the same wealth and social influence as she did. Plus he has the power of the people he's involved with to further help him in his crusade to destroy the Whitly family.
All thanks to the man sitting currently in a prison cell.
Where he belonged twenty years ago but a corrupt attorney, as well as Martin Whitly's connection to an underground cabal kept him from going.
Gil swore silently that once things with Bright were resolved that he'd let Raya do what she wanted ten years ago: transfer Martin Whitly to Arkham Asylum and throwaway the key.
The only reason he hadn't allowed her to do it was because of Bright. Gil was wise enough to know that the kid cutting all contact with his father during the ten years he worked for the FBI only happened because he knew where Martin Whitly was every hour of every day.
He could call his father or go see him anytime he wished resuming doing so. Something he wouldn't be able to do if Martin was locked away in Arkham Asylum's extreme isolation area. Cutting the connection between Bright and his father was extremely dangerous. The kid's mental state was fragile. Martin's hold on Bright was strong. Much as the kid loathed the monster, feared becoming like him, he also loved the man.
Why wouldn't he?
For ten years Martin Whitly had been a killer masquerading as a loving husband and father. The little boy remembered bedtime stories and mugs of hot chocolate as much as he did a girl in a box and running through the woods with a bloody knife. Breaking Martin Whitly's control and hold over Bright could send the kid into a tailspin.
The risk was worth it if it meant the kid would be free of his father once and for all.
"Stopping the Court and Endicott is one reason I called Raya for help, yes," Sorcha confirmed with a nod. "But it's not the only reason I called her."
"Is there something else going on I am unaware of?" Jessica heaved a sigh. "Not that that would be unusual. Malcolm doesn't tend to tell me about things until it's too late."
Guilt sloshed around with the coffee Gil managed to swallow earlier. They hadn't told her about the other reason the Court was after Bright. He wasn't sure how to broach the subject with her. Bat-Gods and a Batman Who Laughs wasn't exactly normal for New York.
He hated keeping a secret of this magnitude from her. What choice did he have, though? There was nothing Jessica could do to stop this evil version of Batman or the Bat-God he served.
"Jess," he started but she cut him off.
"If there's something else going on, Gil, I want to know about it." Her heel struck the floor as she added, "Right now."
Gil wished Raya would return from her phone call. She had cultivated the art of telling the truth without giving anything away. A skill she acquired from her mentor.
"There's nothing going on that you don't already know about," he settled on saying.
It wasn't a total lie.
They had told Jessica the Court could send Talons to kill Bright.
They just hadn't added why or that a demonic Batman could also be sent to seek him out.
"Than what other reason is there for calling Raya?"
"Malcolm himself." One of Jessica's eyebrows quirked in silent demand for explanation. Accustomed to dealing with her when she was in this mood, Sorcha complied with only a hint of humor in her voice. "Malcolm needs every bit of support he has to help him get through this situation. Especially," she added as Raya finally rejoined them, Krypto trotting alongside her, "as he finally confronts what happened on that camping trip he took with his father and John Watkins to that cabin."
"Camping trip?" Jessica's brow wrinkled. "What camping trip?"
"The one where Malcolm encountered the girl in the box," Raya said as she took a seat on the couch.
"Who we now know was Eve's sister, Sophie," Sorcha added.
"Why?" Jessica turned to pace back across the room. She paused at the sideboard where a set of crystals decanters filled with liquid courage waited. She didn't pour a drink, though. A first. Gil hoped it'd be the start of many. "There is nothing but misery waiting for him at that cabin."
"There's also healing." Sorcha calmly met the eyes Jessica shot over her right shoulder. "Malcolm has to confront his past. It's the only way he will start to heal from everything his bastard of a father has done to him."
"Then why aren't you there with him?" The accusation stung the air around them. "Or you?" She directed at Raya. "You are trained in this. You should be at that cabin and helping him deal with this."
"This is not something Malcolm needs me or Sorcha to help him with."
"How can you say that?" Jessica spun to face Raya, a look of incredulous disbelief on her face. "You of all people should know what this will do to Malcolm."
"Yes, I do." Quiet, calm. A diplomat in action. "I also know there are some things best friends and girlfriends… don't even bother saying what you're about to," she said when Sorcha opened her mouth. "You're his girlfriend. Deal with it."
A harrumph and scowl was Sorcha's reply. Not that Raya was impressed by either. The kid hadn't intimidated her with his dark scowl and they were close to Bat-level. Sorcha barely managed to resemble an annoyed fairy.
"You should have sent Richard or Timothy with Malcolm then."
"This isn't for them to do, either, Jessica."
"Than who is it up to? Gil?" Jessica scoffed. "In case you've forgotten, he's the one who arrested Malcolm."
Something Jessica was never going to forgive him for. It was the ultimate betrayal in her book. Just below killing twenty-three people and grooming her son to become a killer.
"Despite Gil being the man who has been a father and mentor to Malcolm..."
"Oh, he was really being a father and mentor as he ordered my son into handcuffs."
"Because he had no choice but to arrest Malcolm." Raya sent Gil a look of sympathetic understanding. Desperately needed after the hell of the last forty-eight hours. "The only way to protect Malcolm from those Endicott sent after him was for Gil and his team to take him into custody."
"I didn't like it doing it." Not that it dimmed her ire with him any. Time was needed for that. Something Gil hoped they'd have once all was said and done. "We couldn't risk those in Endicott's employ getting to Bright. So, we arrested him and put him in the safest place we could: holding."
Her eyes widened as realization dawned and then narrowed into thin, angry slits.
"Are you telling me you planned this?"
"It was a contingency plan Jim Gordon suggested when I spoke with him a few days ago, yes."
"You were behind this?" She directed at Raya, who nodded. "And you didn't tell Malcolm about it?"
"Only Gil, my uncle, Dick, and I knew." Raya indicated Sorcha with a nod. "We didn't even tell Sorcha."
"Why?"
"Because we needed everything to look as real as could be to conceal what wasn't."
"Malcolm had one of his night terrors while he was in that cell!"
"The man in the cell with Malcolm," Raya calmly told her as Krypto rest his chin on Gil's knee, "as well as the guards were from Arkham. All three were told about Malcolm's night terrors and what to do should he have one."
"Malcolm was never in any danger, Jess."
Not that that mollified her.
"He has been in danger his whole life, Gil." She resumed pacing. "From the man who I foolishly believed would protect him."
"Martin Whitly won't be a problem after this," Raya swore in that low rasp she reserved for her alter-ego. "I promise you that."
Jessica stalked towards the sideboard and this time poured herself a drink. She didn't pick it up, however.
Another first.
"I should have killed that man when I had the chance."
Raya's eyes shimmered with mirth behind the lenses of her glasses.
"That's really not something you should say in front of two active-duty officers of the law."
Not that Jessica cared.
"Throw him in a cell with the Joker," she said as she walked to a chair. "Let him take care of that man."
She had suggested the same thing after Malcolm was kidnapped by Raya's father. Gil hadn't disagreed with her then and he didn't now.
He just couldn't verbally agree with her.
He was an active-duty officer as Raya pointed out.
"That's not a bad suggestion," Raya admitted as Sorcha hummed a laugh. "Having Martin Whitly to entertain him might keep that clown in Arkham for an extra night or two."
"You're planning on the Joker still being there when Martin Whitly is transferred to Arkham." Gil's phone buzzed. He pulled it from his pocket and answered without checking the caller ID. "Arroyo." He frowned as he listened to the man on the other end of the line. "Where? Alright, I'll be there in twenty minutes."
"Case?" Raya asked as he returned his phone to his pocket. Unlike Bright, who'd have been bouncing with excitement, there was only mild curiosity on her face.
"Yeah." He pushed to his feet with a soft sigh. Crime never slept. Least of all in places like New York and Gotham. "Body found in the offices of Hartley and Smith. Murdered like Horacio Caldera."
Raya made a speculative sound deep in her throat.
"Jonathan Hartley was my father's business lawyer." Raya's lips pursed. "He is also the only son of Jonathan and Eileen Hartley."
"Making him a target of the Court." Gil grimaced. "Well, it looks like you're coming off the bench."
"Don't worry," Raya joked as she got up and followed him into the hall. "I'm not danger prone like certain individuals who we shall not name."
"No, you're not danger prone," Gil agreed as he opened the front door. "You're just the danger."
"Good thing I'm on your side, huh?"
On that, Gil decided as they stepped out into the cold night, we agree.
A/N: Hello, all! Hope this finds you well!
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