XXIII - Truth for Truth?

"I am malicious because I am miserable" - Mary Shelley, Frankenstein

•••

"Who are you?" Jerome questioned.

Bird opened her mouth to answer him, though she didn't plan on telling him the truth.
If he couldn't remember her on his own, she wasn't about to say anything that might jog his memory.

"What happened to me?"
He asked.

His eyes peered back over to the hard cold metal table he'd woke up on.
With the back of his hand still holding the gun, he pushed the gauze that had started to slide into his eyes back up.

Jerome still couldn't remember much. Everything was fuzzy.

All he could remember was darkness.
A feeling of being suspended in nothingness. A void; for what felt like years.

"Was I dead?" He guessed.

"Yes." Bird answered when he was quiet.

"But now I'm not? He pushed.

With her cellphone still in her hand, Bird tried to make her movements as inconspicuous as possible when she flipped the phone open down by her side.

"HA!" Jerome exclaimed with a sudden jerk of his head towards the right.
It was a rough movement and seemed completely involuntary.

"Nice try." He motioned with the gun from Bird's hand to the table.
Silent instruction to put her phone down.
That as subtle as her movements had been, they'd not been lost on him.

Knowing she really didn't have another option at the moment, Bird closed the phone and dropped it onto the metal table with a thud.
Her plans of calling Jim foiled.

"Well-" Jerome started before another muscle contraction in his neck jerked his head to the side again, "I'm guessing you're not the one who brought me back."

Bird's eyes darted from his face back to the gun in his hand.
She had to get out of there.

He seemed to be having trouble controlling his motions, which meant he could pull that trigger and shoot her without even meaning to.

"It was your cult."
Bird spoke up.

After being so dead set about doing anything to risk jogging his memory, she decided to take another route.

Maybe overloading his still waking brain with information would be distraction enough for her to get out of the room -or at least for her to call Jim where he'd hear Jerome in the background and know what was going on.

"Apparently they've been planning this for a while." Bird added.

"My cult?" Jerome took step closer, "I joined a cult?"

Bird nearly laughed.

"No..." She shook her head, "It's a cult that looks up to you. It was a relatively small following you had while still alive…they mostly seemed to form after you were dead. That's probably why you don't remember."

He was still staring at her, but there was a vacant expression on his face.

Testing the waters, she took a step closer to the table where he phone was sitting.
When he didn't respond or even seem to notice the movement; she started to reach for her phone, but before she could grab it someone tried to open the door to the room.

Bird and Jerome stared at each other in silence trying to gauge the others intentions with someone right outside of the door.

"Is someone in there?" Lee asked as she tried to the door again, but it was still locked.

When no one answered her, she took the keys from her pocket.

"Uh…" Bird held her hand up to the sides to show Jerome she wasn't trying anything and walked towards the door, "Just a moment!"

Unlocking the door just enough to see her, Bird was all too aware of the gun Jerome still had trained on her just out of sight from Lee.

She'd heard the keys jangling and knew it was bad enough Jerome had one hostage and for all she knew Jerome might shoot the next person who walked in.

"Hey." Bird greeted.

"Hey…" Lee's brows raised, "What are you doing in there?"

"Just looking for a band aide." She tried to cover and not appear rattled.

"What's going on?" Lee craned her neck, trying to see past Bird.

"Nothing." Bird argued.

"Yeah?" Lee was still trying to see around her, "Then why won't you open the door?"

Opening the door a little wider, but making sure to keep Jerome hidden from sight, Bird asked, "Happy?"

Lee stepped closer, leaning against the frame of the doorway and assuming Bird was still trying to avoid people like she'd done earlier when she'd started to spiral into a panic attack, she quietly said, "Look, I'm not going to tell anyone about the panic attack if that's what you're worried about."

"Thanks." Bird started to shut the door, but Lee moved closer, palm flat against the door to stop her from closing it.

"There's no reason to be embarrassed-" Lee started to say. Her attempt to comfort Bird halting with a gasp as she spotted fallen officer on the floor, "What did you do?"

She pushed her way into the room before Bird was able to stop her.
Lee knew with getting a better look she could see the officer on the floor wasn't just injured -he was dead.

"What did you do?" Lee loudly repeated. Voice cracking from panic.

"I didn't do it!" Bird defended; seeming insulted.

Before Lee had a chance to respond the door to the room was slammed shut and someone grabbed her.
A hand over her mouth to keep her from screaming and a gun pointed at the side of her head.

"Boo!"
Jerome rasped into her ear, followed by a chuckle.
Ha-ha-ha-ha

Bird made a move towards the door, but was brought to a stop when Jerome turned the gun on her her.

Lee, who was still squirming under Jerome's hold on her, tried to yell something against Jerome's hand but his grip muffled her words.

Ha-ha-ha
Jerome started to laugh again, slowly. The sound was he was making sounded painful.

He cleared his throat.

"Now, I've got two of you." He commented.
Seeming rather proud of his steadily growing collection of hostages.

"Sit."
He ordered, motioning with the gun towards a stool beside the metal table he'd woken up on.

Not seeing another option, Bird did as she was told and once he released his hold on her, Lee followed suit, sitting on the other stool.

"Hmmm…"
Jerome hummed pacing back and forth in front of them.

Lee's eyes moved along with him, watching as he went.
While Bird was more focused on the gun he was holding.
Obsessionally she'd glance over to the door trying to gauge if she had a real chance at escape or not.

Bird's eyes narrowed at the exit.
She was fast.
If she waited till the right moment to make a break for it, she could probably be half way out the door before he realized.

Jerome stopped pacing and looked between them.
Another involuntary muscle spasm caused his head to jerk to the side and his shoulder to jolt up.

He looked between them, there was something so familiar about them both… but it was more than that.
It was the situation too.

A nearly tangible sense of déjà vu,

Not able to put his finger on it or pinpoint a memory involving either of them; he resumed his pacing.

Bird looked over her fellow captive, knowing if she tried to leave she'd be further endangering Lee's life.

With a heavy sigh, her posture slouched.

Life was so much easier when she could only be bothered to care about a few other people.

Then again, Bird reasoned, she had tried to do the right thing by keeping Lee out of the room in the first place.
It was pretty much her own fault she was sitting there now.

"So…" Jerome drew the word out for an annoying length of time as he sat on the desk and faced them both, "How long have I been dead?"
His eyes darted between them, but his focus kept being pulled back to Bird.

"A while." Lee finally answered him.

"And this cult-" He started but quickly corrected with pride, "My cult. How exactly did they bring me back?"

Bird bit down on the inside of her cheek, refusing to answer him.
She no longer felt trying to overload his still waking mind with information was the best strategy; and she wasn't about to give him what he wanted.

Plus, now she wasn't alone in facing him.

Lee was there and this was now the third time they'd been held hostage together.

The first time had been the Children's Hospital Benefit when Jerome and Barbara took over.
The most recent was Jervis Tetch trying to use them both in a plan to force Jim to pick between them; who would live and who would die.

Bird looked over a Lee, thinking what a strange sense of camaraderie is born out of facing down life and death scenarios together.

Feeling eyes on her, Lee looked over to see Bird was watching her.
She mistook the attention as Bird trying to signal for her to answer him -and so she did.

She launched into a rather lengthy explanation of the process Strange had perfected for reanimation.
Maybe, Lee thought, if she could buy enough time someone might come looking for her or just happen to find them in there.
Preferably someone armed.

When Lee looked back over at Bird, the other brunette was staring at her with a shocked expression.
She didn't even have to say the words for Lee to clearly read the "what the hell are you doing?" written on her face.

"Wow!" Jerome clapped his open palm against the gun in his other hand, "That is quite the story. You know, I know I've been dead but doesn't that seem kind of crazy to you?"

"Hey, maybe you're dreaming." Lee countered, "Try shooting yourself."

She wasn't terrified like the last time she'd been in a similar situation and it wasn't that she doubted Jerome's willingness to kill her, but more than anything she felt exhausted with everything.

Since she'd lost Mario, she seemed to have less regard for her own life -perhaps human life in general.

With that thought still fresh in her mind, Lee looked back over at Bird and remembered the first time Jerome had them at gun point. At the magic show for the benefit, how Bird seemed more annoyed by it than worried.

Lee's gaze fell to the floor, she wondered if this vague but still present disregard for life was how Bird often felt.

"Ah?" Jerome considered, looking back down to the gun in his hand before raising it back up and placing the barrel to his bandaged over temple.

Lee held her breath and Bird's eyes narrowed at Jerome trying to will him into one of those involuntary muscle jerks his body kept doing.
With any luck he'd just shut his own lights back out.

"Nah…" Jerome laughed, "Hey, tell me more about this cult. So they think I'm pretty great, huh?"

"They're a bunch of raving lunatics and idiots." Lee's lip curled in disgust.

"Lunatics and idiots?" Jerome hopped off the desk he'd been sitting on, "Oooh, my kind of people-"
The end of his sentence was abruptly cut off when his shoulder jerked back and the rest of his body followed along with the movement against his will.

His attention went back to Bird.
Just like with the movements his body kept making without intention, it was like his eyes kept fixing back on her.

Lee and Bird both stared at him as his body moved again.
His shoulders went up and his head down at the same time.

He heard Bird's voice in his head. Distant and echoing. From another time.
A memory rearing up from the blackness.

The day he'd killed his mother and had been brought into the police station for questioning.
Well before anyone actually considered he'd had anything to do with the murder -well, not quite everyone. Bird had known all along.

"You're admitting that you're a killer? And right here in the middle of the police station nonetheless?" Bird's voice had been just over a whisper.

"Takes one to know one." He'd said.

"That it does." She'd answered.

When Jerome opened his eyes back up was smiling as wide as the wrappings over his skinless face would allow for.

Bird's eyes widened as he stared at her.
The twisted expression through the blood stained gauze was unnerving -more so than she'd care to admit.
Especially when all of his attention was now focused on her.

"Hey!" He exclaimed, moving forward and invading Bird's personal space, "I know you!"

She moved back on the seat, but her back went against the edge of the metal table and she had nowhere to go.

She turned her head to the side look, looking away from him as he moved in close enough their faces could have touched.

Bird had a feeling if she was still around when he fully regained his memory, he wouldn't let her go.

Lee looked over at them wide-eyed as Jerome grabbed onto Bird's chin and forced her to look at him.

The wheels were turning in his mind but not clicking into place yet.

Another uncontrollable jolt hit him, this time one only in his mind.
Another memory. A crack of lightening to split the darkness of night.

When he closed his eyes it was comparable to being sent back in time.
To Haley's Circus.

The smell of popcorn filling the night. The sting of the cold air on the tip of his noise.
Distant hum of talking and the crowd starting to fill in.

The settling of the straw under his shoes; the color of the tarp he'd used to try hide his mother's corpse from sight.

Bird wandering around after ignoring all the signs stating no circus attendees past that point.
Her nearly uncovering his mother's dead body.

"I'm Jerome."
He'd introduced himself.

"I'm Bird."
She'd replied.

"Bird!"
Her name left his lips with a breath of victory.
Everything was starting to come back now.

His throat was still sore and scratchy. It felt tight, but a laugh erupted out in spite of it.

Bird groaned and tried to push him back away from her.

He grabbed onto her chin again, forcing her to look at him again.

"Sorry." Jerome said still smiling as he brushed the hair out of her face with the gun, "Head's still a little fuzzy." He cleared his throat. "I was just reborn. This last year was nothing but darkness…"

"Darkness." He repeated as leaned in closer to her face, their eyes locking, "As far as the eye can see…"

Lee shifted in her seat as she watched them.
This always happened when they were around each other; she usually became the sole object of his attention.

A dialogue of sorts opened.
One that Jim had used to get a confession out of Jerome for killing his mother.

Lee had warned Jim about that at the time.
Of course she didn't know much about Bird at the time -other than she seemed to get under Jim's skin worse than anyone else.

Her mind had been pulled not only from the room but from the present.
"God…" Lee breathed as she reached up and rubbed her forehead to try and ease the headache that had settled in.

That day had been years ago now.
Though not as many years as it felt like.

How different things had been; how different they themselves had been.

"Hey," Jerome started, nodding his head towards where Lee was sitting, "Who's that?" He asked.

When Bird refused to answer him, he pressed the gun against the side of her head and complained, "I don't remember you being this quiet."

She didn't say anything.
No pleading for her life. Not begging him not to shoot.

Instead she stared back at him from under her lashes, her eyes darker than he remembered.
Her expression stone.
Refusing to give anything away.

It almost felt like she was daring him to pull the trigger.
And, if toying with her wasn't so damn much fun, he would have.

Deciding to let her live, for now at least, he stepped back.
Looked over at Lee and questioned, "I know you too, right?"

"Yep." Lee answered with a sigh.

He took another step closer to the medical examiner, "Hey… did you and I ever…?"
His voice trailed off and he lowered the handgun, pointing it out from his pelvic area. His hip movements suggestive.

"Oh, god!" Lee's face twisted in utter horror, "No!" She nearly yelled.

Caught entirely off guard, Bird nearly snorted.
She cupped her hand over her mouth to keep from laughing.

"What?" Jerome questioned looking over at Bird, "I know you and I didn't. I wouldn't have forgotten that." He finished with a wink.

Letting out a sigh, Bird rolled her eyes and stared up at the ceiling.
Refusing to play into it any longer.
He was getting way too much of a kick from being the center of attention.

Catching the still remaining traces of disgust on Lee's face, Jerome questioned, "Gingers not your type?"

And just like that it hit him.
Memories were starting to rush back in waves.

He remembered both Lee and Bird from the night at the televised hospital benefit show.
Both of them bound to the wheels performers would use in knife throwing acts.

"You son of a bitch!"
Jim had hissed at him through the phone.

Another wave of excitement rushed over him.
How funny, he thought, to come back to life and find himself holding the same two women hostage as he'd been when he was killed.

"You're Jim Gordon's little Twinkie." He moved forward, his hand on Lee's throat as he stuck his tongue out, trying to lick her cheek.

Lee squirmed away from him, "Easy…" She cautioned when he raised the gun to her face.

"How's it going between you and Jimbo?" He asked, taking a step back, "You still together?"

"No." Lee answered.

Jerome's posture slouched with a groan of disappointment, "That's a shame. I really liked you guys. What happened?"

"He killed my husband on our wedding night." Lee openly admitted.

"Really?" Bird asked staring at her in disbelief.

Lee didn't look over at her.
Instead she continued to watch Jerome and grew more annoyed with him as he laughed.

"Glad you find it funny." She grumbled.

"I do!" Jerome's laughed grew louder.
Sounding much more like he did before he'd died.

The laughing came to an abrupt stop as he added, "I get why you don't."

Lee shook her head, more disappointed in herself than anything else.
She had no idea why she'd told him that.

The bitterness over what she'd lost hit her in waves; and when she got swallowed up by it, she didn't feel nearly as bad for giving the okay to have Jim killed.

It was in those moments that the hate took over, shifting into something else.
Into someone else she wouldn't even recognize in the mirror. Shape shifting.

"Go ahead." Lee gestured with a hand; Jerome was nearly spinning in circles, overtaken from his the intensity of his own laugh, "There's about a hundred cops on the other-side of that door waiting to kill you all over again."

"Right." He stopped laughing again, "Down to business then…"

Looking back to Bird he remembered, "Right before I died… I was trying to kill Bruce Wayne, I supposed I didn't manage to...?"

"Like that was ever really going to happen." Bird's eyes narrowed.

"You know, I think it's really sweet how protective you are over your brother." Jerome placed a hand over his chest, feigning emotion.

"Now…" Her breathed looking between them, "Where is my face?"

The room was silent as he stared between them and finally pointed out,
"That wasn't a rhetorical question."

"Go ahead." Bird nodded as she looked at Lee, "Tell him. Considering you can't keep your mouth shut about anything today."

"Excuse me?" Lee's eyebrows shot up with surprise.

"I mean apparently you're just dying to tell anyone, including him-" She jutted a thumb in Jerome's direction and acted offended, "About how Jim killed Mario."

"He did!" Lee's voice raised.

"Yes, but you conveniently leave out the fact that Mario was infected with a virus that drove him insane. That Jim killed him to save your life." Bird's anger rose to the surface.

"Okay." Jerome held his hands up, "I think we're missing the point here. My face. Where is it?"
He looked between them again.

•••

"Brothers and sisters. My name is Dwight-" Dwight began but stammered as he stared into the news camera broadcasting a live feed to every home in Gotham, "My name is Jerome." He corrected.
"History will call tonight; The Night of the Awakening."

"Look at that." Jerome complained.
Now dressed in the uniform of the officer he'd killed earlier in the room.
"No charisma. No stage presence…"

Dwight had Jerome's severed face attached to his own. Like a mask.

"Though, he is a handsome fellow, huh?" Jerome asked with a laugh.

Lee said something but he couldn't understand.
Her voice was muffled by make-shift gag of gauze Jerome had put on her.

After it was clear Jerome was planning to disguise himself as a cop to escape the precinct, Lee had started telling him how it wouldn't work.
Reminding him again about all the officers in the building that would be standing between him and the exit.

He was as unhappy with Lee's talking as he was about Bird's apparent vow of silence.

"You do realize what a slim to none chance you have of actually making it out of the police station." Bird echoed Lee's earlier sentiments, then added, "You know, with a missing face and all. You don't exactly blend in."

Picking the police hat up from the desk he'd laid it on, he put it on and lowered his head some, trying to hide his bandaged face in the shadow the visor cast.

"Yeah." Bird pursed her lips together and nodded, "That'll do it."

"You know…" He looked between Bird and Lee, "I guess I should take one of you with me."
With a wide smile he added, "A human shield."

Lee said something neither of them could understand with her voice muffled from the gauze.

Bird let out a sigh at Jerome's pretending this was something he'd just thought up.

He'd gagged Lee and then tied her arms together around one of the metal stands of the table.

Meanwhile, he'd only handcuffed Bird's wrists together. Not to any fixture in the room to make an escape take longer.

Despite the act he was putting on, he'd planned to take her with him all along.
He wasn't fooling anyone.

Walking over to where she was seated, Jerome grabbed onto her arm and pulled her to her feet, she quickly wriggled her arm free and shot him a look.

"What?" He held his arms out to the sides, one hand still holding onto the gun and feigned disappointment, "You act like you didn't even miss me."

"I didn't." Bird asserted. Her eyes narrowed, "I'd have killed you myself that night if Galavan hadn't beaten me to it."

His gaze dropped for a moment, his memories were still coming back.

"Ahh…" Jerome breathed, "That's right. Theo Galavan killed me, that jug-eared Judas."
Looking to the gun in his hand he reasoned, "Guess I should start with killing him."

"Too late." Bird's head tilted to the side, "He's already dead."

"No!" Jerome exclaimed with an overly dramatic display of disappointment, he took a step back and asked, "Who beat me to it?"

"The first or second time?" She asked.

"Galavan came back to life too?" Jerome gathered.
When Bird nodded, he tilted his head back, face cast towards the ceiling and stumbled backwards like the news was enough to knock him down. "That son of a bitch is always upstaging me!"

Once he recovered from the blow, Jerome motioned with the gun towards the door, signaling for Bird it was time to go.

"Really?" She laughed, "You're going to what? Perp walk me through the police station? Have you forgotten I'm kind of a big deal in Gotham?"

"Smart thinking, gorgeous." He winked at her.

Jerome looked around the room trying to come up with a solution.
Finally he shrugged out of the leather police jacket he'd lifted from the officer and draped it over her cuffed hands to hide them from view.

Grabbing back onto her arm he pulled her closer, jabbing the barrel of the gun into her ribs and earning a pained groan as he said into her ear, "Guess this is the part where I remind you that if you try anything -you're dead."

With that he laughed as Bird struggled to lean as far away from him as she could.
Her hair was starting to stick to the blood dampened gauze over his face.

Jerome looked back to where Lee was watching them with wide eyes.
Nodding towards the T.V. still broadcasting Dwight's speech, Jerome said, "Keep watching, Doc. You don't wanna miss what happens next."

Once they were out in the hallway with the door shut behind them, Jerome asked, "Say… you know a back way out of here?"

"Why?" Bird's voice strained when he jabbed her in the side with the gun again, "Not feeling so brazen now that we're surrounded by cops?" She finished saying through gritted teeth.

"Me?" He laughed, "I'm not scared of anything. Let's go."

Handcuffed with Jerome at her side with a gun, Bird didn't have a choice but to walk as he led her out of the hallway into the main room of the GCPD building.

He kept his lead lowered and forced Bird to walk just slightly in front of him where he could shield his identity from anyone who might happen to glance their way a second time.

The steady pace they'd been moving at came to an abrupt halt when Bird stopped walking. Not expecting the change in momentum, Jerome slammed into her side with a wheeze when her shoulder sharply hit his chest and knocked the air out of him.

He was about to remind her that he wouldn't think twice about shooting her if she tried anything when he saw the expression on her face.

Following her line of sight, he saw she was watching one of the uniformed officers talking to a much taller man with slicked dark hair wearing a suit and long tan coat.

There was something familiar about him too, Jerome thought.
It took a few seconds but then he asked, "Hey, isn't that your… boyfriend, fiance… husband?"

"No." Bird shook her head.

Out of all days for Harvey to be at the police station, she internally sighed.

"Yes it is." Jerome argued with her, "I was going to kill him too."

"No." Bird repeated.
Her heart started to pick up speed knowing if she tried anything now he'd kill probably kill Harvey.

She'd never intended on leaving the police station with Jerome.
Not that she had a fool-proof plan, but she'd planned on causing some kind of scene once they were out in the building.

Damn it, she near-silently mumbled to herself, the men in her life were certainly going to be the death of her.

She'd never have ended up as Jerome's hostage in the first place if she wasn't so distracted because of Oswald and now her plans of escape were foiled by Harvey Dent.

"Yes-" Jerome started to argue again but Bird shushed him by whisper-yelling, "We broke up."

Jerome held back a rumble of a laugh in his throat as he stated, "Wow. You miss a lot when you're dead for a year…"

Harvey looked up across the station and saw Bird.
With a smile he raised his hand and waived at her.

Bird did her best to return the smile like everything was fine and she wasn't currently being held hostage by a reanimated Jerome Valeska.

Harvey's smile faded some and the look on his face turned to one of confusion, wondering why she was huddled together with an officer, from what he could tell from where he was standing at least.

Jerome started to laugh louder.
This was going to be fun.

Bird gave another smile in Harvey's direction and them quietly said to Jerome, "You want to make it out of here alive? Shut up and follow me."

"Hmm." He growled against her ear, "I love it when you take charge."

Rolling her eyes and choosing to not even justify that remark with a comment on the matter, she led them away from the center of the room off to the side and past where the holding cells were set up to a side exit of the building that let out to the alleyway connected to the parking lot.

Jerome dragged her along with him over to one of the cars to see if the keys were inside.
They'd make much better time by vehicle than on foot and he reasoned they'd probably have a hell of a time trying to get a taxi.

He let out an excited noise when he saw the keys still in the ignition of the car.
GCPD was just making this too easy on him.

Taking the leather jacket back that he'd draped over Bird's wrists to shield the sight of her in cuffs from prying eyes, he pulled the jacket back on before opening up the passenger side door and bowing as he said, "After you my lady."

"Aw." Bird sarcastically cooed as she got into the car, "What a gentleman."

Jerome laughed as he shut the door once she was inside and then adjusted the police cap back on his head.

Bird did her best to grip onto the dash and stay in her seat when Jerome tore out of the parking lot and nearly crossed over into oncoming traffic.

Rolling the window down and letting the cold air in, Jerome took a deep breath and let it fill his lungs.

"It's the little things you miss when you're dead." He said, "Fresh air… the terrified look in someones eyes just before you kill them-"

"Yeah." Bird scoffed, "The little things."

"What happened with you and…" He started to ask as he blew past a stop sign and another car had to slam on the breaks to keep from hitting them and laid on the horn, "Wait, wait. Don't tell me. I know this one… come on, he's a lawyer…"

"Harvey!" Jerome yelled as the name he'd been searching for found his tongue, "Dent, right?"

"Didn't work out." Bird tried to dismiss.
Her eyes widening as a woman who'd started to push a stroller across the crosswalk stopped just in time from walking out in front of them.

"Come on!" Jerome pushed, "I really want to know."
He turned his head and looked over at her.

Aware of his starring, Bird turned some to face him, her brows raising when he refused to look back at the road.

"Really?" She asked, "How are you going to get your face back if we wreck and die before ever getting to the news station?"

He applied more pressure to the gas pedal.
The city faded into a blur around them and she knew he was trying to rattle her.

She could feel the impact and the sound of metal crunching was a little too close for comfort when he veered more towards the right and the side-view mirror broke off against a car parked along the side of the road.

But she didn't let it show.
She didn't flinch.

"You're not scared?" His eyes seemed to come to life with the realization.

He was an attention seeker; got off on getting a rise out of other people.
Of being the cause of a reaction.

Knowing it would only serve to irritate him, Bird gave a single shoulder shrug, "I'm not impressed either."

With an annoyed noise, Jerome finally looked back at the road just in time to see the man in the middle of the street, he'd been too busy talking on his cellphone to notice the patrol car speeding towards him.

Bird hadn't turned back in time to see him, but she felt the impact when the car plowed into the pedestrian.

The man's body flew up, twisting violently in the air before he smacked the asphalt behind them.
His limbs bent in unnatural directions.

Bird raised up in the seat some and looked through the back window, she could hear him screaming in agony.
The screams fading as the distance grew between them.

"Sorry!" Jerome yelled out the window, "Didn't see you!"
He broke into a manic laugh, his eyes watching the rear-view mirror where people were rushing to the hit and run victim in the street.

When he turned his attention back to Bird, he saw she was staring intently down at her still cuffed wrists.

"What?" He asked.
He jabbed a finger into the side of her head when she didn't answer, "What are you thinking?"
She was still much too quiet for his liking.

"I'm trying to figure out what's more important to you." Bird admitted, her dark brown eyes narrowing as she stared back at him, "Getting your face back from Dwight or keeping me as a hostage."

"You gonna make it a break for it?" Jerome smiled.
It would be near certain suicide to jump from a car moving at that speed, but he had no doubt she was crazy enough to try it.

"Maybe." She answered.

Jerome's memories were still fuzzy; still coming to focus like pictures being developed in dark room.
But one of the first things he'd remembered had been the night he died.
The night he'd tried to kill Bruce.

The night he'd hurt Bird in an attempt to draw him out.

By that point he'd been in more than a few situations involving hostages and he'd never seen anyone so unrattled by being in one than Bird had been.
-And apparently still was.

His head might have still been a mess of confusion and still waking up at the time, but he remembered the conversation between Bird and Lee before the latter had made her way into the room and into the line of danger.

"Why'd you have a panic attack?"
He questioned.

"I don't know."
Bird was adamant about the same answer she'd given Lee.

Jerome let out a heavy, dramatic sigh.
He had the thought that she was turning out to be the most boring hostage he'd ever taken and that if things didn't take a turn soon, he might push her from the car.

Bird looked back down to her handcuffs.
Still waters run deep.
She might have been calm on the outside but her mind was racing.

Weighing her options.
She could get her seat belt on, cause him to the wreck the car and have a chance at escape.

But there were no guarantees with a plan like that and she could end up severely injuring herself instead.

And the closer they got to the TV station, the more it seemed an unessential risk to take.
He'd have to stop the car to find Dwight and get his face back. Surely there would be plenty of chances for escape then.

Slowly exhaling the breath it felt like she'd held onto for an eternity, she settled back into the seat some, but kept her arms loose and ready to brace against the dash from an impact if he hit someone else or crashed.

She side-eyed him, remembering when she'd gotten him to not only confess that he'd killed a mother but to go into detail about it.

The more information she could get out of him, the better chance Jim would have of finding him.

"Truth for a truth?"
She questioned.

This time Jerome kept his eyes on the road but his head cocked to the side.
The proposition also sending his mind back to the day in the interrogation room as well.

"I lost someone important to me not all that long ago." Bird answered his question about what had sent her into a panic attack, "Then today I realized my best friend isn't good for me… so I've lost him too. Not to mention the city probably hates me after an interview gone wrong."

"Boooring!"
Jerome complained in in a sing-song voice.

"Sure." Bird scoffed, "More boring than the endless darkness you've been stuck in? If so maybe you should have just stayed dead."

"Ouch!"
He took a hand off the steering wheel and placed it over his heart with feigned offense.

"Who died?" He question.

"My turn." "Bird reminded, "What are you going to do after you find Dwight?"

"Kill him." Jerome responded without missing a beat.

"Duh!" She exclaimed, "But then what? Where are you planning on going?"

"Who died?" He repeated his earlier question.

"My half-brother." She answered; then asked, "Are you leaving Gotham?"

That question elicited a laugh from him.
"This city is just too damn much fun!"

"How'd he die?" Jerome continued down the single line of questioning, she assumed was an attempt to get under her skin.

"Shot to death."

Jerome almost choked on the laugh building in his throat.
His head made an involuntary movement to the side and the whole car swerved with him.

That was getting old fast, he thought, how long until the unfortunate side effects of reanimation wore off?

He slowed the speed of the car down as they neared the T.V. station. The block was swarming with police cars.
Nosey bystanders lining sidewalks trying to get closer to the center of the action.

For now they'd need to blend in.
Long enough to find Dwight and get his face back.

"Who killed him?" Jerome pushed.

Bird, not seeming to notice she'd missed her turn bit down on the side of her tongue before telling him the truth, "Jim Gordon."

She waited. Wondering if he'd put two and two together after hearing Jim had killed Lee's husband on their wedding night.

"Ol' Jimbo?"
Jerome threw his head back, his entire body nearly convulsing from the laughter.
Slapping his hand down on the dash he tried to calm down some as he questioned, "Wait, don't you people believe in an eye for an eye?"

"You people?" Bird asked confused.

"The mafia." He answered.

"I'm not a mobster." Bird defended.

"Daddy is." He seemed thrilled with remembering that, "Shouldn't you have killed Jim or left a horse head in his bed… or something?"

"It's complicated." Her answer was vague and before he could try to pry anymore information out of her, Bird waved her cuffed hands to the left as she questioned, "Change your mind about getting your face back?"

Realizing they were at the back of the building, Jerome slammed the breaks on so fast that Bird didn't have to brace herself and her forehead collided with the dash.

With a groan of pain, she sat back up and shot him an angry look while shaking the hair out of her face.

"Your fault." He accused, "Too distracting."

He got out of the car, pulling the police hat down further to try and shield his bandaged face; as if it made that much of a difference.

"Well…." Jerome blew out a breath as he spotted a large box sitting in one of the patrol cars parked on that side of the building, "Would you look at that."

He dragged Bird alongside him over to the box that was overflowing with weapons.
Everything from grenades and handguns to an array of different kind of knives.

Dropping the gun into the trunk of the car, Jerome picked up the knife that caught his eye first.
The handle of which doubled as brass knuckles.

He held the knife out in the bright light of the sun and admired the gold plating on it before he turned to Bird and pressed the knife against her neck.

Not flinching in the slightest, she sighed, "If you intended on killing me today, you'd have tried it already."

His head tilted back, throat nearly turned up to the sky with a guttural laugh as if she'd told the funniest joke he'd ever heard.

"Maybe." He jerked his head back forward abruptly realizing he probably shouldn't take his eyes off of her around so many weapons.
The laugh cut off fast as it had started when he pointed out, "But the day is just getting started."

Jerome's eyes dropped to her side, his mind going back to the short blade he'd had the night of the Children's Hospital Benefit -the resistance just before her skin gave way to the sharp tip.
Her blood on his hand.

"Anyone else having deja vue-;" He started to ask, but the moment was interrupted by someone yelling out, "Hey, you're not supposed to be back here!"

Both Bird and Jerome turned to see an uniformed officer walking Dwight towards the car; a plastic bag containing one severed face in his other hand.

The officer quickly let go of Dwight's arm and let the evidence bag drop to the ground in a rushed attempt to draw his service weapon.
But before he could, Jerome threw the knife right at his chest.

Bird's eyes widened as the cop's legs wavered with a stunned look on his face before he dropped to the ground.
She wasn't even sure she could have thrown it with that much accuracy herself.

"Did you see that?!"
Jerome exclaimed with the giddiness of a child on Christmas morning.

It took a few moments to recover from the shock of realizing the plan to bring Jerome back to life actually worked, before Dwight then realized he may have jumped the gun by removing his face.

With a nervous stutter, Dwight leaned down with his cuffed hands and picked up the evidence bag as he said, "J-J-Jerome?"

"In the flesh!" He answered with a bow, before squinting as he added, "Well, most of it."

Bird looked around them.
Wondering how much longer it would be until someone else came around to that side of the building.

She could probably run.
Although, if she tried she was sure Jerome would try to stop her -even by means of a bullet of he had to.
And apparently his accuracy was pretty spot on.

Plus, what she really needed to do was talk to Dwight.
The guys who's tried to abduct her earlier in the day had said he'd been the who sent them.
Clearly he was the ringleader of this cult and she needed to know what else they planned.

Mainly, if any of those plans involved Bruce.

Her fear at this point wasn't for her own safety, but more so that a plan already might be in motion for them to capture Bruce for what they so fondly referred to as The Night of the Awakening.

A sudden wave of guilt washed over her.
One of the last conversations they'd had was after she found out he'd made a move against the Court of Owls without including her.

She'd been so angry that she'd completely blown off his attempt at a apology.
She'd had a wedding to attend that evening and made a point to really drive the word 'brother' home when talking about Mario.

Bruce had hurt her and she hadn't hesitated in hurting him back.
Maybe an eye for eye was just in her blood.

Her heart sank even further as she remembered the last phone call they'd had, she'd hung up on him.
At the time it didn't seem like a big deal.

After all, she felt like she'd been circling the drain since Jim killed Mario and listening to Bruce be upset about fight between himself and Selina just felt like background noise to what she had gone through.

Now she just wanted to kick herself.
With as many people a she'd lost in her life, she knew better than to assume there would always be more time to fix things.

It wasn't until she felt hands on her arms that she was brought back from her thoughts.
Acting on instinct alone, she jerked her arms away in an upwards motion and them dropped them down hard on the person who'd grabbed her.

Jerome let out a pained noise with his hand going to the the crook between his neck and shoulder where the blow had landed, "Ouch!" He dramatically called out, before demanding to know, "What'd you do that for?"

Before she could respond, he moved his head from side to side, his neck cracking as he did.
The tightness on that side he'd felt which felt like it had kept launching him into uncontrollable movements was gone.

"I think you fixed me!" He smiled as far as the bandages would allow and looked over his shoulder where Dwight was loading the boxes of weapons and explosives from the police cars into a news van and repeated, "She fixed me!"

"That's great…" Dwight wiped the sweat off his forehead and nervously picked up another box of explosives to take with them.

Bird shook her head.
Not sure what she missed, but clearly there was some kind of plan at play now.

She'd been dissociating more lately; just like during the interview earlier in the day with Oswald.

Jerome started to reach for again, but stopped just shy of making contact, "You gonna hit me again?"

Not giving her a chance to respond, he held up something in this hand that gleamed in the sun.
It took her eyes a minute to recover from the glare.

It was a key.
A handcuff key.

Her eyes narrowed at him.

"Some kind of trick?" She accused.

Instead of a verbal answer, her grabbed onto her arm again. She didn't fight him this time and to her dismay he unlocked the cuffs.
She watched as the metal cuffs fell to the ground with a clank.

"What's the catch?"
Her head cocked to the side.

"Here. You're responsible for this." Jerome said as he picked up the evidence bag with his face inside of it and held it out to her, "Very important. Don't lose it."

This time it was Bird that laughed, "What makes you think I'm coming with you?"

He took a step closer and boldly answered, "Because you want to."

"Hmm." She hummed, "I really don't."

"You do."

"Why would I want that?"

"To be free." Jerome answered like she should have already known.

"Yeah, that whole: Wake up. Why be a cog when you can be free? Speech doesn't really work on me." Bird answered with a sigh.

Jerome started to point that for someone who was arguing they didn't want to be there she wasn't making any attempt to actually remove herself from the situation, but then something else dawned on him.
That she had a part of what he'd said memorized.

His eyes went over to the building, they were running out of time to flee the scene before someone else would surely come out there.

And not that dying in a blaze of glory didn't sound like a good time, but he had bigger plans.

"Bird, come on." Jerome nodded towards the van where Dwight was waiting on them to make their escape.

She shook her head when he tried to compare them; saying they were alike.
When he said he knew her.
Reminded her of when she'd beat another inmate in Arkham with them so severely that she'd knocked the man's teeth out.

He said violence was in her nature and there was no point in denying it.

That last part struck a nerve; though she'd never have admitted it.

Bird took one last look at the TV station building knowing that Jim was probably in there; at the very least he was close by.

The way she saw it now, she had two options.
Get away from Jerome and find Jim; but that wouldn't do much good if there was already some plan of action from the cult to get Bruce.

She looked back at Jerome knowing the second option would be to go with him.
She'd have a better chance at stopping a plan from the inside.

Plus, if she played along and kept him distracted, maybe he wouldn't even want to go after her brother.

Jerome's eyes lit up with excitement when he saw the defeat in Bird's.

Holding out the bag containing his face again, he repeated, "Don't lose it."

Bird's nose wrinkled as she took the bag from him; pinching the top corner of the bag between her thumb and index finger as she followed him towards the van.

•••

The street out in front of the news station was bustling with uniformed officers trying to take down statements from any witnesses and paramedics working as quickly as possible to tend to any of the wounded.

"We need Dwight taken back for questioning." Jim loudly called out to Bullock.
As if the cordoned off area wasn't chaos enough, a rather large crowd of curious civilians had gathered around -along with news crews trying to get as much footage as possible.

"Yeah." Bullock agreed before nudging him on the shoulder and joking, "So much for the big awakening, huh?"

"Yeah…" Jim blew out a breath and looked around.
The air felt thick.
Still buzzing from everything that had happened and there was a steadily growing sinking feeling in his gut that something wasn't right.

Despite this being a win by the GCPD, Jim was still concerned this was far from over.

"You know, we should probably get some cars out on the streets." Jim reasoned, "Dwight got his message out… a few lunatics could still respond."

Bullock opened his mouth to agree, but Jim's phone started buzzing from his pocket and he motioned for his fellow detective and now acting captain to give him a moment.

Jim looked at the screen on his phone and saw it was Bird was calling.

"Hey." He answered, "I know you don't like waiting around the station, but it's a going to be a little longer before I can get back."

He'd figured Bird was unhappy and restless being told to stay put and internally braced himself for a jolt of her anger or argument.

But all he heard back was a breath of air into the phone.

"Bird?" Jim turned away from where Bullock was standing.

"Jim." Lee said into the phone as she fumbled with trying to open the door of the room and wave to the officers to draw attention, "It's Lee." She stated, as if he didn't know her voice well enough to be able to tell.

She pointed over to where the slain officer's body was lying on the floor to signal the officers of what was going on.

It was just moments before that she'd finally broken free of her restraints.

She'd felt her pockets only to realize she didn't have her phone on her.
That's when Bird's cellphone caught her eye from the table.

"Lee?" Jim repeated back, walking further away from the crowd to better hear the phone call.

He pulled the phone away from his ear to check the screen again, thinking he must have misread it, but he hadn't.

"What's going on?" Jim questioned, "Where's Bird?"

"Jerome's alive-" She blurted out.

"What?" Jim's head was starting to spin.

"I… I don't know how." Lee continued, "But he's alive."

"Where's Bird?" He repeated the question, more urgency in his voice now.

Lee pulled in a breath to answer, but then stopped.
Let the extended silence weigh on him.

Worried? She thought to herself; good.
The bitterness and resentment cutting it's way back through to the surface.
After all he'd put her though, all he'd taken from her -he deserved to have something taken from him.
To know the loss she was having to live with every single day of her life.

"Lee!" Jim yelled into the phone, "Where's-"

"He took her." Lee finally said. As much as she wanted to Jim to suffer, she didn't want that to be at the expense of Bird's well-being.

"What?" He asked.
He'd heard the words, but it was like his brain couldn't interpret them into action or even emotion at that point.
More so confusion. Shock.

"Jerome took her." Lee repeated, rubbing her forehead, "He took Bird and I think he's going after Dwight to get his face-"

He pulled the phone away from ear and whirled around when he felt a hand on his shoulder, it was Bullock.

"You okay?"

"Where's Dwight?"
Jim yelled.

"I saw a uni walking him that way a while ago. Why?" He motioned towards the side of the building.

"Jerome's alive." Jim repeated the newly learned news, as he took off for the side of the building with Bullock on his heels, "He's coming after Dwight and…"

His voice trailed off as they stumbled across the dead body of the uniformed officer Bullock had seen escorting Dwight from the building.

"What the…." Bullock breathed.
There was a knife protruding from the dead man's chest.
Bright gold from the handle reflecting in the sunlight.

Jim ran past the body into the street and looked around.
Spinning in a circle and trying to catch sight of Bird -of anything that seemed out of place.
But the only thing that didn't fit was a banged up patrol car with a busted windshield.

"Jim!" Bullock yelled, trying to get his attention.

Rubbing his hands over his face, Jim cursed under his breath as he turned back to face his partner.

"We'll get him." Bullock assured, "A guy with no face is gonna stick out like a sore thumb -even in Gotham."
The news was jarring, sure, but the look of panic and concern on Jim's face threw him off.

Along with the inaction.
Despite Bullock being the acting captain of the GCPD, this was usually the time when Jim would start giving out orders to the other officers or already be halfway through a plan of their next course of action.

Jim's head sank forward, his eyes falling to the ground as something shiny drew his attention; a pair of open handcuffs lying on the ground.

"He's got her, Harvey." Jim shook his head. He'd told her to stay at the police station for her own safety. Little did he know that his attempts to keep her safe put her right into the lion's den, "He's got Bird."

•••

A/N - Ahhh. Sorry it's taken me so long to get this chapter finished and posted!

Thank you to: xxXWolfsLullabyXxx, SmellYourScentForMiles, Adela, Shadow knight1121, Katniss789, Amelia, SusieSamurai (hey girl!), movielover251 and to the Guests who have reviewed my last chapter.

It has been much harder to stay inspired and keep this going now that Gotham has ended. Much harder than I'd originally expected.
But I'm not giving up, I'm working really hard to keep the content coming.

Also not sure how many of you are still with me for Bird's story?

Anyways, for those of you who are still here; thank you so much for reading!
I hope you'll take the time to leave a review -I could really use the encouragement right about now if I'm being honest.

As always, you can find me on Tumblr at: twofacedharveydent