Things were going pretty well for Sophie. Due to some miracle, her workplace would only be shut down for two days in which the GCPD fruitlessly searched for evidence but found no traces of DNA. As nobody but Sophie had seen the corpses of the women with the machine guns, no one seemed to be aware of their deaths.

Sophie had never thought to be happy about something as gloomy as a murder case not even being opened. Just once did she wonder if anyone would miss the dead women, if they had anyone waiting for them at home. Yet, she quickly suppressed any worries about how her ability to empathize seemed to be slowly going down the drain. What she could not suppress was her thoughts' increasing inclination to drift towards the bald assassin whenever there was no other task at hand occupying her mind.

It felt like an accomplishment to have kept a job despite a visit of Victor Zsasz.

But while she felt rather smug about that, she also wondered how her 'friend's' hunt for James Gordon would turn out. The death of a policeman would have been scandalous enough to make the headlines, especially if it was someone as heroic as this one was according to hearsay.

Sophie was aware of how morally questionable it was for her to watch the news in hopes of hearing about the death of a policeman. But once again, she concluded that this would be the preferred outcome for her.

I don't have any kind of relationship with that cop. But I do know Victor to some extent, it's only natural that I don't want anyone I know dead.

With her eyes glued on the TV during her time off, Sophie did not catch anything coming up about James Gordon. Instead, she could witness a rather interesting interview that was being conducted with the penguin-man.

Oswald Cobblepot, Gotham's mayor and man of the people, who had seemed like a social butterfly with polished manners to her, was not cutting a good figure at this interview.

Ages ago, Sophie remembered, she had wondered if this man carried kindness in his eyes. Now that this interview provided her with a close-up, she still couldn't tell.

Frankly, the man looked as if he had just seen a ghost. There was sweat on his brow and it even looked as if there was a speck of blood on one of his cheeks. In an attempt to take a sip from his drink, he spilled water on himself. Moreover, he did a fairly bad job at evading questions concerning his criminal record and actually failed to deny murder allegations. It seemed as if he had forgotten his talent for eloquence and his charisma at home.

The highlight, however, was when he jumped out of his seat, knocked over his water for good, and voiced out how he felt about the citizens of his fair city.

"To hell with the people!"

Still being not too keen on the politician, Sophie was actually enjoying this more than she was proud to admit.

When she got back to work, it was hard for her to believe that the kitchen had been a crime scene only a couple of days ago. Everything looked spotless and while the first couple of hours had been a bit awkward, her colleagues soon returned to their usual loud chatter and shenanigans.

Bill, one of her co-workers who was rather gifted when it came to imitating people, would jump up and shout "to hell with you people!" whenever someone would address him, be it a waiter passing on an order or one of the other kitchen helps asking him to hand them a spatula, making them all burst with laughter.

Maybe, everyone had somewhat bounded a bit more by cheating death together. Or it had taught them to take life less seriously for a while. Whatever it was, their good mood was more contagious than ever, and Sophie felt really glad to be back. She didn't love this job, but she surely loved the way they all got along with each other.

On her way home, she was humming happily, the sound of their laughter still in her head, and smiling widely over her colleagues' silliness. It was nice how small and mundane things could distract her mind from the darker areas it had seemed to prefer lately.

At home, Sophie decided to treat herself to some banana pancakes. Not that she counted calories, but she usually tried to eat as healthy as she could afford to. Since she'd been living in a city this polluted, she felt the urge to meet her mother's expectations of a healthy lifestyle at least partially.

She made about a dozen pancakes and decided to devour as many of them as she could tonight and have the rest for breakfast. After the news, she decided, she would watch a movie or finally finish the book she was reading.

But when she settled on the couch and turned the TV on, her appetite quickly faded away.

On the screen was a young man whose face looked… wrong. As if it had been cut off and stapled back on. Yet, there was something undeniably intriguing about the young man, some sort of boyish charm that had remained intact even when his face had not.

Even more disturbing than his looks were his words. Sophie listened as the red-haired man talked about how he had been revived from the dead. But not like someone who came back shortly after a cardiac arrest.

He claimed that he had been dead for a year.

And now he was encouraging the viewers to use this night for doing whatever they wanted. In fact, he was encouraging them to murder people.

Sophie could not help but notice how happy he looked while saying those terrible things. Mesmerised, she stared at him.

Only when the red-haired man turned away to retrieve a lighter from another man tied to a chair, Sophie registered the explosives behind him.

Just like she hadn't been able to look away from the crazy man's stapled face, she now could not tear her eyes from the one of the victim he left behind.

Her feeling of nausea increased as she watched the man's last moments broadcasted on television. The way his pupils dilated and his body was shaking once he realized his fate was sealed. The sheer panic on his face and how time seemed to stop a moment before his death. Sophie wondered whether watching someone in a situation this terrible was even worse than experiencing it yourself while the image on the television screen became engraved on her memory forever.

Then, many things seemed to happen at once.

Sophie heard the sound of an explosion. And a split-second later, all the lights turned out, and the city became silent at once.

The calm lasted for several heartbeats in which Sophie made her way to the window to look at the burning building on the other side of the river.

The image was both terrifying and strangely beautiful. The flames contrasted to the night that was so much darker than any she had ever seen before. With the power and the streetlights off, you could even see the stars.

Author's Note: 'Mesmerised, she stared at him.' Don't we all? I really like Jerome.

Sam: Haha, I thought it would be nice if she got to keep this job for little bit longer. Thank you so much for tirelessly reviewing, it really means a lot to me. :)

QueenValeska: Thank you so much! :3 - same goes to the 'Guest' and other people still reading. :)