LIII
Gotham By Gordon
It was a distraught Detective Harvey Bullock who barged into his office thirty minutes after Gordon had ended his call with Barbara. Commissioner Jim Gordon didn't need his police training to know that something was immediately wrong by the way the heavier man carried himself into his office.
"Jim…Did you hear? We've got a real big problem. Someone just blew up the White House…."
"Oh dear God... Are you sure, Harvey?"
"Yeah… it's been confirmed. Nothing but a big crater left. People are going nuts."
Jim Gordon took a very large sigh, collected his thoughts, and exhaled. "Detective, I want everyone in this station present in Meeting Room A in…" he glanced at the only wristwatch still being worn by a GCPD officer "…three minutes. Every member we have on the streets, at home, on vacation, hell even retired… I want them on-screen."
As Bullock charged out of Gordon's office barking orders to those outside, Jim fixed his shirt and tie, then took out the pipe that Barbara hated so much, filled it with tobacco (which was impossible to find these days), and lit it. Smoking bylaws be damned!
In three minutes, he was standing before two hundred onsite members of the GCPD with thousands more patched in via secure wi-screens. Only five days ago, he had been addressing many of these same people under much different circumstances.
"My fellow officers," Gordon began, "Many of you weren't cops 20 years ago during the Gotham terrorist attacks…worst day of my life. I'm sure you all know by now that the White House has been attacked. For all practical purposes, we must assume that the president, the vice president, and many federal officials are dead.
The country is in a state of shock... As police, we don't have that luxury. We are law… we are order. Gotham needs every single one of us on duty… right now. There are no shifts, there are no days off, there are no vacations, there are no excuses.
Within the hour, every non-operations critical member is to be on the streets in full gear. I want horses, I want beat cops, I want cars, I want helicopters and tanks.
I want on a cop on every corner, two in front of every grocery store. Every weapons store in Gotham is to be shut down immediately. The mayor will invoke a state of emergency. When he does, it will be up to us to keep the peace. Above all, we need to be visible. People need to know we're there.
Everyone is scared… We've got to pull together. Tell them to help one another. Tell them we love this country, this city and her people. We will defend. We will protect.
We're still Gotham.
Let's get to work, officers... And God help us all."
Hours later, a video shot from the downtown streets of Gotham would become viral. A giant-of-a-man standing in front of the smashed-out window of a convenience store…loot spilled around his feet beside a fallen baseball bat…hugging a much smaller female GCPD officer. Towering a full two feet above the lady officer, the huge man is visibly shaking, tears streaming down his square jaw. The small Hispanic woman in uniform holds him while he sobs heart-felt apologies to her.
More citizens of Gotham converge to comfort the man, holding him, holding one another, reassuring themselves that everything will be alright while others retrieve the stolen goods, and carefully return them to the convenience store.
"I just told him what my Commissioner told me," reports Officer Renee Montoya moments later.
Author's Note:
That last scene always makes me tear up a little.
Next Chapter: Hell Hath No Fury Like A Half-Demon Scorned!